$613M San Carlos ‘Blank Check’ Firm Faces Liquidation: Report

SAN CARLOS, CA — A Peninsula “blank check” investment firm valued at over $600 million is facing liquidation, Silicon Valley Business Journal reports.

San Carlos-based SVF Investment Corp. will be dissolved after failing to complete a merger, Bloomberg News reports.

Softbank group, a multi-national conglomerate based in Japan that backs the Peninsula firm, will delist the company from the Nasdaq Jan. 27 and cash out investors, Silicon Valley Business Journal reports.

Blank check companies typically have no business plan and exist for the purpose of facilitating deals, often speculative, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s website.

SVF raise over $600 million during a 2021 initial public offering and had close to $613 million in its trust account as of Dec. 30, Bloomberg reports.

The San Carlos firm had sought a merger with companies involved in communications technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, cloud technologies and software, Bloomberg reports, citing thecompany’s U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Softbank is led by billionaire tech entrepreneur and philanthropist Masayoshi Son, who has Peninsula ties.

The Softbank founder and CEO who reportedly owns a 30 percent stake in the company moved to the Bay Area when he was 16 to attend high school and graduated from the former Serramonte

High School in two weeks before attending UC Berkeley.

He is believed to be the owner of a massive Woodside home that fetched $117 when it was purchased in a secret 2013 transaction, The Los Angeles Times reports.

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