One Investment Management, a vehicle set up by SoftBank Vision Fund’s key architect Rajeev Misra, plans to hire in New York, London and Abu Dhabi after securing an initial $6.8 billion from backers.
(Bloomberg) — One Investment Management, a vehicle set up by SoftBank Vision Fund’s key architect Rajeev Misra, plans to hire in New York, London and Abu Dhabi after securing an initial $6.8 billion from backers.
The fund, which was started last year by the former Deutsche Bank AG trader, aims to add roughly 20 staff to an existing team of about 30 across offices in the UK capital, the US and the Middle East, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
OneIM has already hired from Farallon Capital Management LLC, Oakpoint Advisors LLC and Silverpoint Equity Ltd., the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. In April, Ignacio Lopez-Garrastazu Torrens, a former managing director at hedge fund giant Farallon, joined the firm as a partner, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Misra — a key lieutenant of SoftBank Group Corp. founder Masayoshi Son — has been securing backing for OneIM over the past year. It has completed a first close after raising $6.8 billion and is still scouting for additional capital, the people said.
Abu Dhabi Backing
The fund is backed by Abu Dhabi conglomerate Royal Group, which is led by Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ national security adviser, Bloomberg News has reported. Mubadala Investment Co., one of the emirate’s sovereign wealth funds, is also a backer, while ADQ didn’t end up investing, the people said.
OneIM plans to invest in European and US companies, the people said. In February, it was a cornerstone investor in the initial public offering of Adnoc Gas, one of the world’s biggest listings this year.
Representatives for OneIM, Mubadala and ADQ declined to comment.
Misra has also been tapping former colleagues to join him at OneIM. SoftBank Vision Fund managing partners Yanni Pipilis and Munish Varma became co-founders at the firm, Bloomberg News has reported, while Samuel Merksamer, a former partner at the Japanese conglomerate, joined as a partner.
At SoftBank, Misra and his OneIM deputies managed the Vision Fund, the Japanese telecom’s splashy $100 billion arrival as the world’s largest tech investor. He helped Son raise money from Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala for the Vision Fund, which injected billions into a range of startups at soaring valuations and shook up the venture capital industry.
Ambitious Strategy
Abu Dhabi’s backing for OneIM shows Misra’s success in retaining the support of Middle Eastern investors despite some controversial investments such as WeWork and Wirecard during his time at the Vision Fund. Those deals put pressure on the Japanese parent company and eventually forced it to pull back its ambitious strategy.
Misra stepped back from his roles as a corporate officer last year as he worked on OneIM. He remains head of SoftBank Investment Advisors.
On Tuesday, the Vision Fund said it eked out its first profit in more than a year and that it’s cautiously resuming investments to capitalize on the opportunities in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.
A few hours after the earnings report, WeWork said there’s “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue operating and its shares fell more than 25% in extended trading.
–With assistance from Silas Brown and Archana Narayanan.
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