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SoftBank Group Corp. plans to file Monday to raise at least $ 500 million through a blank check company, said a person familiar with the situation, drawing on investor enthusiasm over the controversial vehicle listing.
The special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, will be overseen by SoftBank Investment Advisers, which also manages the Vision Fund. It will be used to buy a company that SoftBank has not previously invested in, according to the person who requested not to be identified as the plans are private. The news of the moment was first reported Sunday by Axios.
Kenichi Yuasa, a spokesman for the Tokyo-based SoftBank Group, declined to comment.
Rajeev Misra, director of the Vision Fund, originally revealed the plans for the SPAC in an interview with Bloomberg News at the Milken Institute virtual conference in October. At the time, he said details would be announced within two weeks. It is not clear what caused the delay.
The blank check company will combine Vision Fund’s expertise in tech startups with SoftBank’s relatively new emphasis on public stock trading.
SPACs ask investors to put money into a stock before knowing which company they will back. The SPAC manager then chooses a company, usually one that is privately listed, and seeks a merger that allows the startup to go public and inherit the capital raised.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. is managing the deal, Axios reported.
SPACs have been criticized as a more expensive way to go public than traditional initial public offerings and have been linked to foamy valuations. But the mechanism can also allow seasoned backers to help guide growing companies. For SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son, who has supported hundreds of startups in his career, creating such a vehicle can give you a new way to invest in startups while tapping into booming public markets for money.
– With the assistance of Takahiko Hyuga
