Aug 17 (Reuters) - Japan's SoftBank Group Corp isplanning to lend up to $20 billion to its employees, includingChief Executive Masayoshi Son, to buy stakes in its secondVision Fund, the Wall Street Journal reported https://on.wsj.com/307Ljihon Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Son himself may account for over half of that amount, theJournal reported, adding that executives feel that such a stepwill make employees more accountable as the investments of thefund can be canceled if a manager leaves or is found to haveengaged in a "reckless deal".
The loans are likely to have an interest rate of about 5%,the WSJ said, citing a source.
The government of Kazakhstan, an investor in the fund, isexpected to make a contribution of about $3 billion while bankssuch as Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Britain's StandardChartered PLC and Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ FinancialGroup Inc have also indicated they are willing toinvest several hundred million dollars each, according to thereport.
SoftBank is discussing with many pensions and insurers,including in Taiwan, for total investments that it hopes willcross $30 billion, the WSJ reported.
SoftBank was not immediately available for a comment onSaturday.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru)