SoftBank taps Goldman Sachs to begin new fund investor talks in July

SoftBank Group Corp. is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to raise money for its second $100 billion technology investment fund and will begin formally soliciting investors in July, according to people familiar with the matter.

SoftBank and its bankers, which also include Centricus and Cantor Fitzgerald, have held preliminary talks with sovereign wealth funds from Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kazakhstan and Oman, said the people, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. SoftBank may contribute $40 billion to $50 billion, up from $28 billion in the first fund, because of what founder Masayoshi Son sees as potentially lucrative returns, the people said. The goal is to close the fund by March 2020, one person said.