SoftBank Group Corp. plans to file on Monday to raise at least $ 500 million through a blank check company, a person familiar with the situation said, tapping into investors’ enthusiasm for the controversial listing vehicles.
The special purpose acquisition firm, or SPAC, is overseen by SoftBank Investment Advisers, who also manage the Vision Fund. It will be used to buy a company that SoftBank has not previously invested in, according to the person who asked not to be named because the plans are private. The news of the timing came first reported Sunday by Axios.
Kenichi Yuasa, a Tokyo spokesman at SoftBank Group, declined to comment.
Rajeev Misra, the head of the Vision Fund, originally revealed plans for the SPAC in an interview with Bloomberg News at the Milken Institute’s virtual conference in October. At the time, he said details would be announced within two weeks. It is not clear what led to the delay.
The blank check company combines the Vision Fund’s expertise in tech startups with SoftBank’s relatively new emphasis on public equity trading.
SPACs ask investors to put money into a stock before knowing which company they will be backing. The SPAC manager then chooses a company, usually one that is privately traded, and pursues a merger that will make the start-up public and inherit the capital raised.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. manages the deal, Axios reported.
SPACs have been criticized as a more expensive way to disclose companies than traditional IPOs and have been associated with frothy valuations. But the mechanism can also enable experienced sponsors to guide growing businesses. For SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son, who has supported hundreds of startups throughout his career, creating such a vehicle could provide him with a new way to invest in emerging companies while tapping into rising public markets for cash.
– With the assistance of Takahiko Hyuga