UAE and Qatar wealth funds back Japan’s PayPay IPO

Sovereign funds from the UAE and Qatar have committed to be cornerstone investors in PayPay Corporation as well as an arm of SoftBank Group’s $1.1 billion flotation in the US.

Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) and Qatar Holding, part of Qatar Investment Authority, agreed to buy shares in the digital payments provider worth up to $220 million, alongside Visa International Service Association, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

No information was given on the funds’ individual contributions. 

PayPay Corporation is selling 31.1 million US depositary shares, while SoftBank Vision Fund II, a subsidiary of Japan’s Softbank, is offloading 23.9 million on Nasdaq, the filing added.

The IPO is expected to be priced between $17 and $20, according to the filing.

PayPay delayed the start of formal marketing amid uncertainty over conflict in the Middle East, Bloomberg reported. The IPO is expected to price on March 11, it added.

PayPay reported a profit of ¥103.3 billion ($656 million), up 255 percent year on year, and revenue jumped 26 percent to ¥278.5 billion in the nine months of 2025, the filing showed.

Last month Adia joined the IPO of Indian renewable energy company Clean Max Enviro Energy Solutions as an anchor investor.

It has also backed Chinese AI startup MiniMax’s IPO as a cornerstone investor. The share price doubled on its first day of trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Further reading:

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• QIA makes ‘strategic’ investment in US AI chip startup
• Trade talks with Japan are in final stages, says UAE minister