A pedestrian walks past the logo for telecom and investment giant SoftBank Group in Tokyo. The company plans to raise $630m through two special purpose acquisition companies. AFP
A pedestrian walks past the logo for telecom and investment giant SoftBank Group in Tokyo. The company plans to raise $630m through two special purpose acquisition companies. AFP
A pedestrian walks past the logo for telecom and investment giant SoftBank Group in Tokyo. The company plans to raise $630m through two special purpose acquisition companies. AFP
A pedestrian walks past the logo for telecom and investment giant SoftBank Group in Tokyo. The company plans to raise $630m through two special purpose acquisition companies. AFP

SoftBank looks to raise $630m as its sets up two more acquisition companies


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SoftBank Group plans to raise as much as $630 million through two more blank-cheque companies, capitalising on record investor demand for the vehicles.

The Tokyo-based technology conglomerate said it would create the special purpose acquisition companies less than two months after it filed to create a $525m blank-cheque company. SPACs look to merge with private companies, letting them become publicly traded firms while avoiding some of the uncertainty of an initial public offering.

The vehicles have become a popular way for venture-backed start-ups to list on the public markets. More than $35 billion has been raised by the 117 SPACs that have gone public on US exchanges this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

SoftBank shares were up as much as 6.1 per cent in Tokyo on Monday ahead of the company’s latest earnings report, on top of a five-day streak of gains.

The new SoftBank vehicles, SVF Investment Corporation 2 and 3, will target the same diverse areas of technology as the first, including mobile communications and artificial intelligence, according to filings on Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Because the SPACs are different sizes, they can work with companies of different maturity.

SVF 2 has entered into a forward purchase agreement in which it has committed $100m to $150m of capital for when it combines with another company, its prospectus shows. SVF 3 has entered into a forward purchase agreement in which it has committed $150m to $200m of capital for when it combines with another company, its prospectus shows.

For both new vehicles, each unit of the SPAC will consist of one share and one-fifth of a warrant. Citigroup, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Cantor Fitzgerald and Mizuho Securities are advising on the listings.

SVF 2’s management committee is led by Munish Varma, a managing partner at SoftBank’s Vision Fund, while SVF 3’s management committee is led by Ioannis Pipilis. SoftBank’s first SPAC is led by Vision Fund Chief executive Rajeev Misra. Vision Fund chief financial officer Navneet Govil serves as the head of finance of all three SPACs. All are overseen by SoftBank Investment Advisers, which also runs the company’s Vision Fund.

Having three SPACs launches SoftBank into a growing collection of companies with multiple blank-check vehicles, including the Gores Group and investor Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital Hedosophia.

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Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries

Smoother border management with use of e-gates

Cutting red tape on import and export of food

Company Profile
Company name: OneOrder

Started: October 2021

Founders: Tamer Amer and Karim Maurice

Based: Cairo, Egypt

Industry: technology, logistics

Investors: A15 and self-funded 

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The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

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MATCH INFO

Euro 2020 qualifier

Ukraine 2 (Yaremchuk 06', Yarmolenko 27')

Portugal 1 (Ronaldo 72' pen)

WHAT IS GRAPHENE?

It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.

Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.

By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.

In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.