Deutsche Bank Alumni Are Helping Son Remake Japan’s SoftBank
- Rising star Naheta pitched Son on $40 billion Nvidia deal
- Financial engineers have more sway as company shifts gears
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When Masayoshi Son cut the largest deal of his career -- the $40 billion sale of chip designer Arm Ltd. in September -- the idea didn’t originate with one of his seasoned bankers or lawyers. Instead, it started with a relative newcomer to his inner circle, a former Deutsche Bank AG trader with a background in financial engineering.
Akshay Naheta, not yet 40, has worked on some of SoftBank Group Corp.’s biggest deals since joining the company three years ago. Some, like a $1 billion debt transaction with Wirecard AG, have been controversial. But they got him close enough to Son that he was able to pitch him on the sale of Arm to semiconductor designer Nvidia Corp.