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SoftBank boss follows
Trump to Saudi to launch $100 billion fund
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 [May 19, 2017]
By Makiko Yamazaki
TOKYO
(Reuters) - Some six months after his visit to Donald Trump's Manhattan
mansion cheered investors, Masayoshi Son, Japan's richest man, is set to
follow his friend to Saudi Arabia as the new U.S. president makes his
first overseas trip since taking office.
Son, head of Japan's SoftBank Group Corp <9984.T>, travels to Riyadh
this weekend where he is expected to announce the close of the first
fundraising round for what will be the world's biggest private equity
fund, backed by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund and Apple Inc <AAPL.O>.
His appearance in the Saudi capital and the expected launch of the $100
billion Vision Fund coincide with Trump's official visit to the kingdom,
one leg of a presidential trip that also includes Israel, Belgium and
Italy.
Son describes the fund as essential for setting up SoftBank for a data
"gold rush" which he expects to happen as the global economy becomes
increasingly digitized.
"The Vision Fund has created a framework for SoftBank to grow over the
next 100, 200 and 300 years," Son said in February. "The next 10 years
would be the time for me to put the plan into practice while grooming
successors."
Son is scheduled to attend a forum of global chief executives in Riyadh
on Saturday to be held on the sidelines of the Trump visit, a list of
attendees showed.
A SoftBank spokesman declined to comment on Son's schedule.
The aggressive dealmaker made headlines in early December when he
appeared in the marble lobby of Trump Tower in New York alongside the
then president-elect, dressed in a red vest and near-identical red tie
to the tycoon-turned-commander-in-chief.
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SoftBank Group Corp Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son attends a news
conference in Tokyo, Japan, February 8, 2017. REUTERS/Toru Hanai
He was
among the first in a series of Asian billionaires and leaders to pay tribute to
Trump, who won office in November on a platform that focused heavily on national
security and protecting American jobs.
Son's pledge to Trump to invest $50 billion in the United States and create
50,000 new jobs was light on details but spoke to the president's election
promise to boost economic growth by making deals with individual companies,
rather than through complicated trade deals.
SoftBank Group shares surged after Son's December meeting with Trump and his
announced investment.
Foreign tycoons who paid homage to Trump after Son include Foxconn founder Terry
Gou and Alibaba boss Jack Ma, who are both close business partners of Son. In
November, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Trump in New York, less
than two weeks after the U.S. election.
(Additional reporting by Reem Shamseddine in RIYADH; Writing by Sam Holmes;
Editing by Miral Fahmy)
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