SoftBank Senior Executive Akshay Naheta in Talks to Leave

(Bloomberg) -- Akshay Naheta, a senior SoftBank Group Corp. executive who has worked on some of the company’s biggest deals, is in talks to leave the company, according to people familiar with the discussions. 

Naheta, who leads SoftBank’s public equity investments, is discussing taking an advisory role at the firm to focus on his own long-only fund, the people added, who asked not to be identified because the conversations are ongoing. 

The potential departure marks yet another senior exit from SoftBank’s ranks. Seven managing partners have left since March of last year, including the sole senior managing partner, Deep Nishar, who will depart by the end of this year.

A spokesperson for SoftBank declined to comment. Terms of Naheta’s departure aren’t final, and he could ultimately decide to stay, the people said.

Naheta has been involved with some of SoftBank’s biggest deals since joining the company in 2017. Some, like a $1 billion debt transaction with Wirecard AG, have been controversial. He also pitched founder Masayoshi Son on the sale of chip designer Arm Ltd. to semiconductor designer Nvidia Corp. and led a $4 billion investment in Nvidia in 2017, a bet that earned $3 billion in profit.

The senior vice president led SoftBank’s $5 billion stake in Roche Holding AG, and its investment in robotics firm AutoStore.

Naheta also helped Son set up SB Northstar, which invested in public stocks and derivatives. Son said in November that he personally lost about 150 billion yen ($1.3 billion) in SB Northstar. The business is now winding down.

A former trader at Deutsche Bank AG, Naheta previously started his own hedge fund, Knight Assets & Co.. Alongside his new fund, he is considering taking a minority stake in a European challenger bank, the people added. 

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