SoftBank Group has entered into an agreement to acquire American private equity giant, Fortress Investment Group for approximately $3.3 billion in cash. Fortress has more than $70 billion in assets under management. Sharing the general view on this, Dennis K. Berman, Financial Editor of WSJ termed the aquisition as "The weirdest M&A deal of 2017".
Fortress’s senior investment professionals will remain in place and will retain their significant participation interests in fund performance. Fortress will operate within SoftBank as an independent business headquartered in New York, and SoftBank is committed to maintaining the leadership, business model, brand, personnel, processes and culture that have supported Fortress’s success to date.
Under the terms of the agreement, SoftBank can bring in partners for a portion of the investment. Nizar Al-Bassam and Dalinc Ariburnu of F.A.B. Partners, who arranged the transaction, will continue to advise SoftBank with respect to Fortress.
Masayoshi Son, Chaiman & CEO of Softbank Group
For SoftBank, this opportunity will immediately help expand our group capabilities, and, alongside our soon-to-be-established SoftBank Vision Fund platform, will accelerate our SoftBank 2.0 transformation strategy of bold, disciplined investment and world class execution to drive sustainable long-term growth.
Pete Briger, Co-Chaiman Fotress
We are very pleased to announce an agreement setting our business on a great path forward as part of SoftBank, while creating significant value for our shareholders. We join a company with tremendous scale and resources, and a culture completely aligned with our focus on performance, service and innovation.
