Mubadala Investment Co. is nearing a deal to buy Fortress Investment Group from SoftBank Group Corp. in a purchase that could value the US asset manager at more than $2 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.
(Bloomberg) — Mubadala Investment Co. is nearing a deal to buy Fortress Investment Group from SoftBank Group Corp. in a purchase that could value the US asset manager at more than $2 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The Abu Dhabi sovereign fund could announce an agreement in the coming weeks, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Rajeev Misra, a key lieutenant to SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son with close ties to the Gulf emirate, is playing a key role in brokering the deal, the people said.
Misra was a partner at Fortress before joining SoftBank, and his knowledge of the business was instrumental in helping Mubadala proceed in the negotiations, one of the people said. Bloomberg News first reported the parties were in talks in July.
No final decisions have been made, and talks could still fall apart. Spokespeople for SoftBank, Mubadala and Fortress declined to comment, while representatives for Misra weren’t immediately available for comment.
Mubadala has long been a SoftBank counterpart. In 2017, the fund emerged as one of the anchor investors in the firm’s debut Vision Fund, which Misra was instrumental in helping set up.
Misra, who joined SoftBank in 2014, has recently been stepping back from his main roles at the conglomerate and has secured more than $6 billion to launch his own fund. Entities based in Abu Dhabi have committed money to this new venture, Bloomberg has reported.
SoftBank acquired Fortress in 2017, intending to use the New York-based firm’s expertise to help manage its behemoth Vision Fund. The firm, led by co-Chief Executive Officers Pete Briger and Wesley Edens, managed $53.3 billion as of Dec. 31.
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