SoftBank inducts India-born Rajeev Misra on its board

MUMBAI: India-born Rajeev Misra has been inducted as a board member to the SoftBank group (SBG) on the back of the Japanese conglomerate officially launching its SoftBank Vision Fund last weekend. Misra currently holds the position of the chief executive officer of the group’s gargantuan sized fund which was first announced last year.
The election of Misra and a bunch of other new board members is subject to approval during Softbank's annual general meeting to be held on June 21.
The technology conglomerate had said it has made the first closing of $93 billion for its ambitious Vision Fund on May 20, in Riyadh along with the Saudi Arabian government which has pitched in $45 billion as the fund’s largest sponsor.
SBG's wholly-owned subsidiaries, collectively called as SoftBank Investment Advisers, will advise the SoftBank Vision Fund, by far the biggest such investing vehicle globally.
Misra is on the fund's investment committee along with SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son. His appointment to the board of the group entity further enhances his role as SVF’s CEO.
A debt-trading executive and a finance veteran with stints at Deutsche Bank and UBS AG, Misra played a key role in putting together the ambitious Vision Fund along with Son, who wants to take massive bets on the future of technology.
An IIT alumnus, Misra was hired into SoftBank three years ago as head of strategic finance at the group around the time Son got on board Nikesh Arora, another India-born top-ranking executive. Arora was anointed as the heir apparent to Son and was also on the board of SBG before he quit.
SoftBank also appointed Marcelo Claure, president & CEO, Sprint Corp, Simon Segars, CEO, ARM Holdings, Mark Schwartz, senior director, Goldman Sachs and Yasir O Al-Rumayyan, MD of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia on to the board. Schwartz and Al-Rumayyan are intending to be external directors, SoftBank said in a prepared statement Friday. The group's portfolio companies in India include e-commerce firm Snapdeal which is in its last leg of being sold to bigger rival Flipkart as we first reported in our March 28 edition, taxi aggregator Ola, hotel booking platform Oyo Rooms, e-grocer Grofers and Paytm, the group’s latest investment here.