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.
SoftBank of Japan Will Buy U. S. Private Equity Giant Fortress -
By LANDON THOMAS Jr. and MICHAEL J. de la MERCEDFEB.
He has never been known for his modesty, repeatedly boasting about outsize ambitions like dethroning Verizon
and AT&T atop the American wireless industry with Sprint.
SoftBank will be paying $3.3 billion for Fortress, a premium to the company’s public market value of $2.3 billion.
