The largest private equity fund in the world, SoftBank Vision Fund, is thinking of a $500 Million investment in the ZhongAn Online Property and Casualty Insurance Co. Ltd. at the Hong Kong original public offering. ZhongAn is claimed to be first Internet-only insurer of China. The above information was given last week to the media, mentioning people having knowledge of the deal.
The fund is expected to be a supposed cornerstone sponsor in almost $1.5 Billion IPO of ZhongAn, added the local media. The IPO, the largest by a financial tech firm in the city, is anticipated to roll out as early as next month.
ZhongAn and SoftBank refused to comment when made contact by the media.
Vision Fund, which has lifted almost more than $93 Billion to invest in tech segments such as robotics and artificial intelligence, is supported by SoftBank Group Corp., Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son’s firm; main sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia; and firm comprising Qualcomm and Apple Inc.
Solving the riddle of what Vision means for the other firms is far away from being simple. SoftBank can’t disclose much data regarding the fund, which will spend for 5 Years and operate for 12 Years, without infringing the U.S. rules. Arrangements for venture capital and private equity funds differ dramatically. SoftBank is placing in $28 Billion of shares, partly by inserting current investments.
Lately, Vision Fund, the tech fund supported by SoftBank of Japan, has spent almost $2.5 Billion in Flipkart, top online marketplace of India. It did this via secondary and primary share acquirements, 2 sources having deep knowledge of this matter claimed to the media this week. The spending by the SoftBank Vision Fund offers largest homegrown e-commerce contender of India additional ammunition to fight with Amazon.com, the U.S. e-commerce giant. Amazon has claimed that it will spend $5 Billion in India. Along with the $1.4 Billion Flipkart lifted previously this year from Tencent of China, software giant Microsoft, and online marketplace eBay, it will now have over $4 Billion of cash. This data was given by the Bengaluru-based Flipkart in a statement to the media.