TOKYO— SoftBank Group Corp. 9984 4.45% rode red-hot inventory markets to an enormous quarterly revenue, largely on the again of funding good points at its $100 billion Imaginative and prescient Fund and its $10 billion successor.
The Japanese know-how investor mentioned Monday that it posted a internet revenue of ¥1.17 trillion, equal to about $11 billion, on funding good points of ¥1.77 trillion through the quarter ended Dec. 31. Almost 80% of the funding good points have been because of robust efficiency at Imaginative and prescient Funds 1 and a couple of.
Anticipation of robust outcomes pushed SoftBank’s inventory value up 4.4% to ¥9,485 Monday—a stage final seen in February 2000, when the corporate’s shares peaked through the web bubble.
“We’ve lastly entered the harvest section” for the Imaginative and prescient Fund, SoftBank Chief Government Masayoshi Son mentioned at a Tokyo information convention, standing in entrance of a slide exhibiting a goose laying towering columns of golden eggs that represented SoftBank’s funding hits.
The outcomes spotlight how a lot the increase in public markets over the previous a number of months has benefited SoftBank, which through the previous 12 months accomplished its metamorphosis into an funding holding firm from a telecommunications conglomerate. Climbing share costs final 12 months helped SoftBank claw its means again into the black from a multibillion-dollar loss.
These good points continued within the newest quarter, pushing up the market capitalizations of the Imaginative and prescient Funds’ listed corporations—most significantly ride-hailing firm Uber Applied sciences Inc., one of many fund’s greatest investments.
Enthusiastic public-market buyers additionally gave SoftBank an funding bonanza when Imaginative and prescient Fund portfolio firm DoorDash Inc. listed in December. Shares of the U.S. food-delivery firm instantly soared nicely above their preliminary public providing value. By the top of the month, DoorDash had earned the fund greater than $eight billion in paper good points, and its shares have continued to rise since.
SoftBank mentioned the quarter ended December was the Imaginative and prescient Fund’s greatest ever, leading to a $13 billion acquire within the worth of its investments.
SoftBank is poised to proceed benefiting from robust markets this 12 months. Half a dozen or extra of the Imaginative and prescient Fund’s investees—a few of which have already got multibillion-dollar valuations—are readying preliminary public choices this 12 months, Imaginative and prescient Fund Chief Government Rajeev Misra mentioned on a November name with boutique analysis agency New Road Analysis. Mr. Son mentioned that collectively his funds might produce 10 to 20 IPOs a 12 months.
SoftBank has additionally rolled out or filed itemizing purposes for a minimum of 4 special-purpose acquisition corporations, or SPACs, blank-check companies that go public first after which discover a firm to take over the itemizing later.
Efficiency wasn’t so good at SoftBank’s latest funding unit, an asset-management firm named SB Northstar run by Mr. Son that invests in listed tech corporations. The unit, through which Mr. Son has a one-third stake, made waves final 12 months when it made an enormous choices wager that the inventory costs of some massive tech corporations would go up.
These bets racked up steep losses, and the unit wound down its choices trades on the finish of final 12 months, folks aware of the matter mentioned on the time. Between its derivatives trades and inventory investments, SB Northstar posted an funding lack of nearly ¥170 billion within the newest quarter, in accordance with SoftBank figures launched Monday.
Mr. Son mentioned he was nonetheless testing out Northstar and as of Monday it was posting good points.
Write to Phred Dvorak at phred.dvorak@wsj.com
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