SoftBank Vision Fund's SVF Investment Corp takes SPAC route

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The company intends to have its units listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker “SVFAU” and Class A ordinary shares under “SVFA”.

According to the company, each unit, which consists of one Class A ordinary share and one-fourth of a redeemable warrant, is priced at $10. SVF said its IPO pricing is an estimate solely for calculating the SEC registration fee.

Citigroup (NYSE:C), Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) Securities and Cantor are underwriters to the IPO.

With SVF, SoftBank has joined the trend for special purpose acquisition companies (SPAC) – shell vehicles that raise money in an IPO before merging with a private firm. A record number of companies have taken the SPAC route to bypass the traditional IPO.

The group has been biding its time since efforts to raise capital for a successor to its $100 billion Vision Fund were unsuccessful following poor performance.

It has used its mounting cash reserves to take positions in listed U.S. tech firms and has a growing number of portfolio companies going public after the IPO window reopened.

Home-selling platform OpenDoor Technologies Inc, backed by SoftBank Group, which had its Nasdaq debut on Monday, also took the SPAC route.