SoftBank acquires a stake in pharmaceutical company Roche for $5 bn

16:42 - 5.08.2021


August 5, Fineko/abc.az. Softbank Group, Japan’s second largest public company, has bought $5 bn of Roche’s non-voting stock, making it one of the company’s largest investors, ABC.AZ reports with reference to the foreign media.

According to Bloomberg, Roche has a dual-class share structure with both voting and non-voting shares. It is unclear what type of shares belongs to SoftBank.

According to Financial Times, the trade was masterminded by former Deutsche Bank trader Akshay Naheta through his company, SB Northstar, which has been behind some of SoftBank’s most controversial investments.

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son established the company in 2020 to run the assets, and partly it is financed from personal finances of the entrepreneur, FT asserts.

One of the sources of the publication said that the purchase of a stake in Roche is an attempt by Naheta to diversify the company's portfolio.

Currently, the Swiss company is developing a drug for COVID-19 and Alzheimer's disease.

 

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