SoftBank Vision Fund has around 50 winners in its $100 billion portfolio and a dozen or more companies could pursue listings over the next 18 months, Rajeev Misra, chief executive of SoftBank Investment Advisers, said on Wednesday.
"We have roughly 50 winners, of course we have losers also, and the ones that don’t perform well come out visible in the first 2-3 years because the business model didn’t work," Misra said during a conference in Abu Dhabi.
"A dozen or more will go public in the next 18 months, in the right time, there’s no rush, They don’t need capital."
The Vision Fund, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, had invested $74.6 billion in 88 companies by the end of December, at which point those investments were worth $79.8 billion.
These include Uber Technologies <UBER.N>, Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi and WeWork, the office sharing start-up whose initial public offering imploded last year.
The first Vision Fund lost $2.5 billion in the quarter ended December, SoftBank reported on Wednesday, largely as a result of a disastrous bet on WeWork.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that big investors critical of SoftBank Group's plans for a second massive technology investment fund are refusing to take part unless the first Vision Fund can turn around its performance, sources familiar with the talks told Reuters.
Misra said the second fund has made seven investments and half a dozen are in the pipeline.
Alto, a leading digital pharmacy, recently raised a $250 million Series D round of funding led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
Misra, a former Deutsche Bank executive in the United States, said 75% of Vision Fund's time is spent on managing its portfolio, with 25% on investing in companies.
"The good thing is we don't have to find investment opportunities per se because we will get the call," Misra said.
(Reporting by Saeed Azhar and Davide Barbuscia. Editing by Jane Merriman and Alexander Smith)
