TOKYO — Japan's SoftBank Group Corp (SFTBY.PK) said on Tuesday it was considering investing in Uber Technologies Inc but there was no final agreement at this stage.
"If conditions on share price and a minimum of shares are not satisfactory for the SoftBank Group side, there is a possibility the SoftBank Group may not make an investment," it said in a statement.
Uber said this week that a planned deal with SoftBank and Dragoneer Investment Group was moving forward. The investment could be worth up to US$10 billion, two people familiar with the matter have said.
SoftBank and Dragoneer are leading a consortium that plans to invest US$1 billion to US$1.25 billion in Uber, the mostly highly-valued venture-backed company in the world, along with a purchase of up to 17 per cent of existing shares in a secondary transaction.
Progress in the negotiations came after venture capital firm Benchmark, an early investor with a board seat in the ride-services company, and former Chief Executive Travis Kalanick struck a peace deal, reaching agreement over terms of the planned SoftBank investment.
The Japanese tech-and-telecoms firm has become a prolific investor in ride-sharing firms such as China's Didi and India's Ola as it works to achieve SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son's vision of a future driven by artificial intelligence and interconnected devices.
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