Not for the first time in his career, a problem of resources was preventing Masayoshi Son, the billionaire Japanese technology investor, from realising his ambitions.

日本科技投资者、亿万富翁孙正义(Masayoshi Son)实现自身抱负的脚步，正面临资源不足的阻碍，这种情况在他的职业生涯中并不是第一次出现。

His company SoftBank had recently stretched its balance sheet to splash $32bn on UK chip designer Arm. But the serial dealmaker, who believes in his ability to see into the future, wanted more. So where would Mr Son find the big sums still needed to act on his latest vision of a world where humans, devices and the internet are more closely integrated?

他的公司软银(SoftBank)最近从资产负债表中挤出320亿美元，收购了英国芯片设计公司ARM。但这位相信自己洞察未来能力的连续交易者还想要更多。那么他要去哪里寻找大笔款项，以实现他心中最新的愿景——一个人、设备和互联网更紧密结合的世界呢？

The answer arrived on 13 planes. They carried a 500-strong state delegation from Saudi Arabia to Tokyo last month. Leading it was the reformist Prince Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud, known by his initials MBS.

答案是随着13架飞机到来的。来自沙特阿拉伯的500人国家代表团上月乘机抵达东京。这个代表团的带队者是沙特的改革派副王储穆罕默德•本•萨勒曼•阿勒沙特(Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud)，他以姓名首字母缩写“MBS”为人所知。

Luckily for Mr Son, the prince was a man in a hurry with his own programme — “Vision 2030”, targeting a radical modernisation of the Gulf country.

对孙正义而言幸运的是，穆罕默德也正急于推行他自己的计划——旨在让这个海湾国家实现彻底现代化的“愿景2030”(Vision 2030)。

Six weeks later, the two men would meet in Riyadh to launch plans for the largest private fund of its sort ever created — a $100bn partnership that will allow Mr Son to invest in the future of technology and for Saudi Arabia potentially to reap the benefits.

约6周后，两人在利雅得会面，启动建立一支有史以来规模最大的私募基金的计划——得益于这个价值1000亿美元的合作项目，孙正义将能够投资科技业的未来，而沙特也有可能从中获益。

On paper now is a non-binding agreement for the creation of a SoftBank subsidiary based in London. Over the next five years, Saudi Arabia has committed up to $45bn, while SoftBank has promised at least $25bn. A further $30bn is being sought from “a few large global investors”.

现在已经落实到纸面上的是一项非约束性协议，约定在伦敦建立一个软银分支机构。在接下来5年中，沙特承诺对该基金注资最多450亿美元，而软银承诺至少注资250亿美元。双方正寻求从“几个大型全球投资者”那里募集另外300亿美元的资金。

The initial reaction to the SoftBank Vision Fund has been a mixture of awe and scepticism. Awe since the scale is equal to all the money raised by the US venture capital industry in the past 30 months. Scepticism because questions abound as to whether the parties are truly committed to funding and seeing through the unprecedented project.

外界对软银愿景基金(SoftBank Vision Fund)的最初反应混杂了惊叹和怀疑。人们惊叹的是这个基金的规模相当于过去30个月美国风投行业募集的资金总额。怀疑则是因为，有关各方是不是真的决心履行注资承诺并将这个史无前例的项目进行下去，还存在种种疑问。

Even the insinuation of doubt, however, draws a rebuke from those closest to the plans. “What this isn’t is a couple of guys throwing money around,” says one of these people. Another adds: “This is a marriage of minds. The Saudis want to bring technology to their country and Masa [Mr Son] wants to be the largest technology player in the world.”

然而，即使是这种含蓄的怀疑，也遭到了解该计划内情的人士的驳斥。“这不是几个人四处撒钱的计划，”其中一人说。另一个人补充道：“这是思想的联姻。沙特人希望将技术带向他们的国家，而孙正义则希望成为世界上最大的科技业参与者。”

The unlikely marriage led from a courtship during the state visit to Japan in early September. Mr Son had been considering innovative financing arrangements for months, given the scale of his ambitions and his frustration with public market investors, who he feels take too long to understand his big “crazy ideas”. When SoftBank decided to purchase Arm, it was slowed by the need to liquidate parts of its holdings to fund the transaction, which also pushed the company’s net debt to a staggering $105bn.

这场看似不太可能的联姻源于沙特9月初对日本进行国事访问期间孙正义的主动争取。考虑到自己的抱负之大及自己对公开市场投资者的失望（孙正义感到他们要理解他宏大的“疯狂的想法”所需要的时间太长），孙正义此前数月都在构思一种创新融资安排。软银对ARM的收购因为该公司需要将部分持股变现，以便为该交易提供资金而节奏变慢，该交易也使软银的净负债上升至惊人的1050亿美元。

To solve the problem, Mr Son enlisted SoftBank executive Rajeev Misra, an ex-debt trader who in 2006 helped SoftBank structure a complicated takeover of Vodafone Japan, to explore alternative pools of capital. Mr Misra, who will lead the new fund, asked two former colleagues from Deutsche Bank — Nizar Al-Bassam and Dalinc Ariburnu — to field interest from potential partners.

为了解决这个问题，孙正义委任软银高管拉吉夫•米斯拉(Rajeev Misra)研究其他可能的资金来源。米斯拉是一名前债务交易者，他曾在2006年帮助软银通过种种安排实现对沃达丰(Vodafone)日本业务的复杂收购。即将领导这个新基金的米斯拉，找来了他在德意志银行(Deutsche Bank)的两名前同事——尼扎尔•巴萨姆(Nizar Al-Bassam)和达林克•阿里伯努(Dalinc Ariburnu)，来回应潜在合作伙伴的兴趣。

Senior Saudi officials were among those contacted by Mr Al-Bassam and Mr Ariburnu. In short order, a series of meetings with SoftBank were arranged during the Saudi delegation’s visit.

巴萨姆和阿里伯努联络的人中包括沙特的高官。很快，相关人员便安排好沙特官员与软银在沙特代表团访日期间进行一系列会面。

Before seeing MBS, Mr Son honed his pitch with some of the royal court’s closest advisers: Yasir Alrumayyan, the secretary-general of the state Public Investment Fund (PIF); Khalid al-Falih, the influential energy minister and chairman of state oil company Saudi Aramco; and Majed Bin Abdullah Al Kassabi, the commerce and investment minister. Each pressed the SoftBank founder about the strategy and how it could fit in with their attempts to overhaul Saudi Arabia’s economy and reduce its reliance on oil.

在与穆罕默德见面之前，孙正义在与沙特王室最亲密的一些顾问的互动中完善了自己争取合作的思路，这些顾问包括：沙特国有的公共投资基金(PIF)秘书长亚西尔•鲁马扬(Yasir al-Rumayyan)；具有影响力的沙特石油部长、国有的沙特阿美公司(Saudi Aramco)董事长哈立德•法立赫(Khalid al-Falih)；沙特商业和投资部长马吉德•本•阿卜杜拉•卡萨比(Majed Bin Abdullah Al Kassabi)。他们中的每个人都逼问软银创始人孙正义有关战略的问题，以及该战略如何能契合他们彻底改革沙特阿拉伯经济、减少对石油依赖的尝试。

Not only did Mr Son give examples of how SoftBank could help with the transformation of the country, but the technology mogul also boasted about his investment record and his ability to pick winners including China’s ecommerce leader Alibaba, mobile gaming company Supercell and Yahoo Japan.

孙正义不仅举例说明了软银能如何帮助沙特转型，还夸耀了自己的投资记录以及挑选优秀企业的慧眼，他挑中的企业包括中国电商巨头阿里巴巴(Alibaba)、移动游戏公司Supercell和雅虎日本(Yahoo Japan)。

After a courtesy visit with the Japanese emperor, meetings with the chairman of Hitachi and the heads of Japanese banks, it was time for MBS — an admirer of Japanese culture — to hear Mr Son’s presentation. Joined by his advisers, the deputy crown prince was hosted at the palatial Geihinkan state guesthouse in central Tokyo.

在礼节性拜访日本天皇，与日立(Hitachi)董事长和日本银行业高管们会晤之后，日本文化的倾慕者穆罕默德听取孙正义陈述的时候到了。这位沙特副王储在顾问们的陪同下，在东京市中心富丽堂皇的国宾馆接受了款待。

The meeting was a resounding success. MBS left with a request for Mr Son to visit Saudi Arabia and spend time there better to understand the country. Saudi officials and advisers were dispatched to conduct due diligence confidentially on SoftBank and its portfolio companies.

此次会晤取得了巨大的成功。穆罕默德临走时邀请孙正义去沙特，并希望后者最好能多呆一些时间以了解这个国家。沙特官员和顾问们被派出对软银及其投资的诸多公司展开秘密尽职调查。

A Japanese official said Mr Son found a kindred spirit in MBS, who, aged 31, projects an image of youthful purpose in a kingdom accustomed to a slow pace of consensual rule. “MBS also thinks that the speed of decision-making is very important,” said the official. He added that Mr Son’s contact book among tech entrepreneurs would dovetail well with the financial firepower that Saudi Arabia wants to deploy in the coming years, despite economic challenges at home because of low oil prices.

一位日本官员表示，孙正义与穆罕默德意气相投，在一个习惯于一致同意原则的缓慢节奏的王国里，31岁的穆罕默德展现出年轻人的那种果断。这位官员称：“穆罕默德也认为，决策速度非常重要。”他补充称，孙正义与众多科技企业家相熟，这将与沙特希望在今后几年大举投资相得益彰——尽管沙特国内经济由于油价低企正面临挑战。

Yoshiki Hatanaka, a Middle East expert and adviser at International Development Centre of Japan, says: “In order for Saudi Arabia to attract investment in the future, it needed a flagship and eye-catching deal with someone who is a quick decision maker and internationally well-known. There are few in Japan other than SoftBank.”

中东问题专家、日本国际发展中心(International Development Centre)的顾问畑中美树(Yoshiki Hatanaka)表示：“沙特要想在未来吸引投资，就需要和一位果断决策的国际知名人士签署引人注目的旗舰协议。日本再没有比软银更合适的选择了。”

Last week, Mr Son arrived in Saudi Arabia. He toured oilfields and visited Aramco, where he learnt about the state oil company’s engineering and robotics capabilities. Mr Son was particularly impressed with a robot that is able to clean solar cells, one person says, adding that other partnerships are under way between SoftBank and the Saudis.

上周，孙正义抵达了沙特。他参观了油田，并拜访了沙特阿美公司，在那里他了解了这家国有石油公司在工程和机器人领域的能力。知情人士表示，孙正义尤其对能够清洁太阳能电池的机器人印象深刻，这位人士补充称，软银和沙特正在洽谈其他合作协议。

Time was also spent with the PIF, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, and its leadership. Although the source of the Saudi funding has not been disclosed, the contribution is likely to consist of money from the PIF and later from the listing of Aramco, which is expected to be the largest initial public offering ever when it takes place in 2018 and raises tens of billions of dollars.

孙正义还去拜访了沙特主权财富基金——公共投资基金，与其领导层进行了会面。尽管沙特方面没有透露资金来源，但来源可能包括公共投资基金的资金以及随后沙特阿美公司上市所筹集资金。沙特阿美公司计划在2018年上市，筹资数百亿美元资金，届时有望成为有史以来规模最大的首次公开发行(IPO)。

More controversially, Saudi Arabia will probably draw funds for the project from its liquid securities, fixed-income and currencies holdings, which are controlled by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. PIF is taking over a large part of Sama’s $562bn reserves, a banker close to the Saudi government says, thereby giving the new wealth fund greater financial firepower to fund deals such as the SoftBank tech fund.

更具争议性的是，沙特很可能从所持易于变现的证券（固定收益以及外汇资产）中抽取资金，这些如今都是由沙特阿拉伯货币局(SAMA)控制的。一位与沙特政府关系密切的银行业者表示，公共投资基金将接管SAMA 5620亿美元储备资金中的一大部分，从而让这家成立不久的财富基金拥有更多财力为软银科技基金这类协议提供资金。

By the end of the visit, the two men racing to remake their respective worlds had consummated a deal and built a significant chemistry, although the specifics of their business relationship and the future direction of investments remain something of a mystery.

在访问结束之际，这两个赶着重塑各自世界的男人敲定了协议，并建立了显著的默契——尽管两人商业关系的具体细节以及未来投资方向依然不得而知。

“Masa believes there are enough things out there to buy,” says someone who has worked closely with Mr Son. “It won’t be classic leverage buy-out or venture investing; it will be his own unique brand of identifying opportunities.”

一位与孙正义紧密合作的人士表示：“孙正义相信，有足够多的目标可供收购。不会是经典的杠杆收购或者风险投资；它将是孙正义自己独有的那种识别机遇的投资。”