The Paypers

The special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, also includes a commitment from SoftBank affiliates to partake with additional investments into an eventual deal.

SPACs raise money from investors in an initial public offering, with the goal of identifying and merging with an operating company, typically within two years. SoftBank’s vehicle, called SVF Investment, plans to target companies in a similar model to the Vision Fund.

The prospectus notes that SoftBank has investments and relationships with 100+ growth-stage companies around the world, and that some of them may be attractive targets for its SPAC. Some startups that the Vision Fund had invested in, such as Opendoor, have gone public via SPACs in 2020, while others like DoorDash have taken the traditional IPO route.

SVF Investment will debut on the Nasdaq exchange by selling USD 10 units under the symbol SVFAU. Those will consist of a common share and one quarter of a warrant—essentially a call option—which is exercisable at USD 11,50 after the SPAC’s potential merger closes. Within a few months of going public, SVF Investment’s units will split, and shares and warrants will be able to trade separately under the tickers SVFA and SVFAW, respectively.

The USD 525 million offering of 52,5 million units includes an underwriters’ overallotment option for another 7.9 million units, which could bring the SPAC’s IPO total to USD 604 million. The offering’s joint book-running managers are Citigroup, Deutsche Bank Securities, and Cantor.

The SoftBank affiliates have also committed to purchase as much as another USD 300 million of units at the time of a potential merger closing.

SoftBank files for a USD 525 mln SPAC IPO