TOKYO – SoftBank Group Body.
9984 4.45%
climbed the hot stock markets to a high quarterly profit, largely amid gains on investments in its $ 100 billion Vision fund and its $ 10 billion successor.
The Japanese technology investor said on Monday that it had a net profit of 1.17 trillion yen, the equivalent of about $ 11 billion, from investment gains of 1.77 trillion yen in the quarter ended December 31. Almost 80% of investment gains were due to strong performance in Vision Funds 1 and 2.
The anticipation of strong results caused the price of SoftBank shares to increase by 4.4% to 9 9,485 months – a level last recorded in February 2000, when the company’s shares peaked during the Internet bubble.
“We have finally entered the harvesting phase” for the Vision Fund, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son told a news conference in Tokyo in front of a slide showing a goose laying towering columns of eggs. gold that represented SoftBank’s investment successes.
The results highlight how much SoftBank has had the advantage of growth in public markets in recent months, which in the last year has completed its metamorphosis into an investment company in a telecommunications conglomerate. Rising stock prices last year helped SoftBank get back on track due to a loss of billions of dollars.
These gains continued in the last quarter, pushing up the market capitalizations of companies listed on Vision funds – most importantly, Uber Technologies. Inc.,
one of the largest investments of the fund.
Enthusiastic public market investors also offered SoftBank an investment in investment when portfolio company Vision Fund DoorDash Inc.
listed in December. The shares of the American food delivery company immediately rose well above the initial public offering price. By the end of the month, DoorDash had earned the fund more than $ 8 billion in paper profits, and its shares have continued to grow since then.
SoftBank said the quarter ended in December was the best Vision Fund of all time, resulting in a $ 13 billion gain in investment.
SoftBank is ready to continue to take advantage of this year’s strong markets. Half a dozen or more of Vision Fund holdings – some of which already have billions of dollars in valuations – are preparing initial public offerings this year, Vision Fund chief executive Rajeev Misra said in a November call with boutique research firm New Street Research. Mr Son said that together his funds could produce 10-20 IPOs a year.
SoftBank has also launched or filed listing requests for at least four special purpose procurement companies or SPACs, companies that check in the blank, first go public and then find a company to take over the listing later.
The performance was not so good at the newest investment unit of SoftBank, an asset management company called SB Northstar run by Mr. Son, which invests in listed technology companies. The unit, in which Mr. Son has a one-third stake, made waves last year, when he made a big bet that the stock prices of some big tech companies will rise.
These bets accumulated heavy losses, and the unit closed its options transactions at the end of last year, people familiar with the matter said at the time. Between its derivative transactions and equity investments, SB Northstar recorded an investment loss of almost 170 billion 170 in the last quarter, according to SoftBank figures released on Monday.
Mr Son said he was still testing Northstar and had been making gains since Monday.
Write to Phred Dvorak to [email protected]
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