SoftBank may lend up to $20 bn to employees to invest in new fund

Tokyo: Japan's SoftBank Group Corp is planning to lend up to $20 billion to its employees, including Chief Executive Masayoshi Son, to buy stakes in its second Vision Fund, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Son himself may account for over half of that amount, the Journal reported, adding that executives feel that such a step will make employees more accountable as the investments of the fund can be canceled if a manager leaves or is found to have engaged in a "reckless deal".

The loans are likely to have an interest rate of about 5 per cent, the WSJ said. The government of Kazakhstan, an investor in the fund, is expected to make a contribution of about $3 billion while banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Britain's Standard Chartered PLC and Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc have also indicated they are willing to invest several hundred million dollars each, according to the report.