For nearly 40 years, the Bank of Japan has been helping to fund Sun Zhengyi’s venture capital, and has so far borrowed at least $ 15 billion from SoftBank and its Vision Fund.
Editor’s note: This article comes from Tencent Technology .
Sun Zhengyi, Founder and CEO of Japan’s SoftBank Group
Tencent Technology News on December 16, according to foreign media reports, Japanese bankers who have been supporting SoftBank Group for many years are seriously examining their most important customers.
After the costly bail-out of WeWork, an office space-sharing startup, and a series of other high-profile setbacks with Sun Zhengyi, executives from two of Japan’s largest banking groups privately stated that they told the billionaire managing SoftBank and Its practice of holding a $ 100 billion Vision Fund raises doubts.
A senior executive said in mid-November that his agency wanted to see WeWork develop a convincing turnaround plan before lending to SoftBank. Another bank executive said at about the same time that his bank was cautious about the company and questioned Sun Zhengyi’s strategy of investing large sums of money in high-value startups. The two banks are among the institutions that SoftBank approached to raise about $ 2.7 billion in loans.
While neither of the two anonymous bankers asked to distance themselves from SoftBank, their doubts underscored that people’s views on Son Zhengyi are changing, even among his most reliable supporters.
For nearly 40 years, the Bank of Japan has been helping to fund Sun Zhengyi ’s venture capital, and has so far borrowed at least $ 15 billion from SoftBank and its Vision Fund. They have also forged a closer relationship with Son Masayoshi, advised him on transactions, and helped SoftBank raise more funds from the Japanese corporate bond market than any other issuer.
Data from market research firm Freeman & Co shows that since 2015, SoftBank has paid more than $ 1.9 billion to global banks, most of which went to Japanese banks.
If the banking industry tightens their wallets, or if Sun Zhengyi gets a greater say in how to finance businesses,