LONDON • SoftBank Group is seeking to raise an additional US$10 billion (S$14.5 billion) so that its first Vision Fund can support portfolio companies battered by the coronavirus pandemic, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

SoftBank is in talks with outside investors to provide US$5 billion, which will be matched by a US$5 billion contribution from the Japanese conglomerate, said the sources, who requested anonymity.

SoftBank may be unable to secure sufficient commitments from investors, in part because Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds have been rocked by plunging oil prices.

The company's stock fell by the most on record on Thursday in Tokyo, bringing the decline to almost 50 per cent in the past month alone, erasing as much as US$50 billion in market capitalisation.

The Vision Fund - which counts Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Investment as its biggest backers - had spent US$80.5 billion of its US$98.6 billion total as at Dec 31 last year, according to filings.

The fund plans to reserve part of the remaining cash to pay back a coupon attached to the Saudi investment, said some of the sources. The new capital would be used to support struggling portfolio companies and to fund opportunistic acquisitions of smaller rivals whose valuations have also been battered, they said.

BLOOMBERG