SoftBank Group Corp has announced that it will invest over $10 billion in public stock as part of its new asset management arm. The projected investment is way more than what the bank’s founder Masayoshi Son had proposed to shareholder initially. According to people familiar with the matter, the investment could even run into tens of billions.
The investment plan was unveiled by Son in a conference call with shareholders to discuss the company’s earnings. He added that the unit currently has $555 million in capital.
The bank’s asset management unit is headed by Akshay Naheta, a senior vice president in Abu Dhabi. Again, sources close to the matter have intimated that the team has been silently taking over multibillion-dollar stakes in American Big Tech companies in the last few months.
SoftBank Acquires FAANG stocks
Recently, Son announced that the bank had bought some FAANG stocks or stocks from five large tech companies i.e Facebook Inc., Amazon Inc., Apple Inc., Netflix Inc. and Google.
The bank is yet to disclose the exact amount of stocks in the said companies. To make the investment, the Japanese banks used financing structures that do not require to show up in public records.
“As an investment company, we need to explore various angles and scope. But our focus is still on companies driving the information revolution,” Son said during the earnings presentation. “This is the purpose of our company;” said a representative from the banks.
SoftBank returns to profit after record losses
Softbank has rebounded back to profitability in the first quarter. The company reported $11.8 billion or 1.26 trillion yen in net income during the 2Q 2020. The Tokyo-based bank reported a loss of 1.44 trillion yen in the previous quarter. The bank reported 129.6 billion yen from its Vision Fund, an improving from a 1.13 trillion yen loss in the previous quarter.
The company seems to have a speedy comeback after one of its worst loss in its 39-year history. The company’s quick comeback is attributed to a global rally in technology shares which lifted the bank’s stakes in publicly traded companies where it has invested.
