SoftBank seeks share remedy to treat blurred vision

SoftBank, which owns Arm in Cambridge and recently invested in cluster company PragmatIC, has revealed a record quarterly loss of £5.38 billion for its Vision Fund.

The Japanese tech giant is trying to battle regulators globally in a bid to sell Arm to US tech market leader NVIDIA for $54 billion.

Competitors in the space are pushing SoftBank to scale down its plans and back an Arm IPO as an alternative strategy.

When SoftBank launched its Saudi-backed $100billion Vision Fund, it pledged to invest in the best Cambridge technology companies. Few have benefited to date. SoftBank says it is committed to backing fresh investment opportunities in the UK and globally in the months ahead despite recent setbacks.

SoftBank recently co-led an $80m Series C round for PragmatIC, the Cambridge-anchored flexible electronics pathfinder.

The Japanese company is now pushing an $8.8bn share buy-back programme over the next 12 months. Its share price has fallen by more than 40 per cent since March.