SoftBank of Japan Will Buy U.S. Private Equity Giant Fortress
The purchase of Fortress, a prominent private equity firm with a specialty in investing in distressed assets, was driven by Rajeev Misra,
a former top derivatives expert at Deutsche Bank who has taken a leading role insetting investment strategy for the vision fund.
Now, SoftBank is nearing its most unusual move yet: It is about to buy Fortress Investment
Group, an American private equity giant that oversees around $70 billion in assets.
The mogul, who is one of Japan’s richest men, has sought to shake up the American telecommunications industry
and recently sought to win over President Trump by announcing intentions to create jobs in the United States.
But the acquisition is intended to bolster SoftBank’s other enormous new endeavor: a $100
billion technology investment fund that threatens to roil the private equity world.
14, 2017
Over its three-decade existence, the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank
and its founder, Masayoshi Son, have been known for ambitious and sometimes head-scratching moves.
The Japanese company now oversees assets under management of $170 billion, making it one of the largest
private investors in the world after the Blackstone Group, which manages about $330 billion.
