SoftBank plans to lend up to $ 20 billion to its employees for them to invest in a new fund: WSJ

(Reuters) – The Japanese group SoftBank Corp (9984.T) plans to lend up to $ 20 billion to its employees, including chief executive Masayoshi Son, to take stakes in its second Vision fund, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

According to the newspaper, the son himself could represent more than half of this amount, adding that the management believed that such a measure would make employees more responsible, the fund's investments could be canceled if a manager left or proved to have engaged in a "reckless business".

Loans should have an interest rate of about 5%, said the WSJ, citing a source.

The government of Kazakhstan, an investor in the fund, is expected to make a contribution of about $ 3 billion, while banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), The British Standard Chartered PLC (STAN.L) and the Japanese Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (8306.T) also indicated that they were willing to invest several hundred million dollars each, according to the report.

SoftBank talks with many retirees and insurers, including Taiwan, for total investments that it expects will exceed $ 30 billion, the WSJ announced.

SoftBank was not immediately available for a comment on Saturday.