SoftBank Latin America Fund is replacing two top executives as Paulo Passoni and Shu Nyatta are leaving the Japanese conglomerate, in yet another change that comes in the wake of reorganizations of the fund for Latin America since the idealist of investments in the region, Marcelo Claure, left the Japanese conglomerate unhappy with his remuneration.
According to Nyatta, he and Passoni, former managing partners, are leaving to start their own venture business focused on late-stage startups in the region.
Bloomberg News reported that in the coming days, SoftBank is set to promote the LatAm fund’s third managing partner, Alex Szapiro, who currently holds an operating role, to a more senior position. Juan Franck, a fund investor in Mexico City, will also get promoted, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
Remuneration is also one of the reasons for the departure of former managers Paulo Passoni and Shu Nyatta. According to Brazil Journal, it is a response since SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son announced changes to the compensation scheme making executive compensation a percentage of investment performance discretionary.
Another reason for Passoni and Nyatta’s departure would be the change in the relationship with the invested startups, as SoftBank suspended a group that helped in the recruitment and government relations of the investees, according to the Brazil Journal. SoftBank says the changes are relocations as the SoftBank Latin America Fund staff is now joining the Vision Fund, under the command of Indian Rajeev Misra.
Szapiro, former leader of Amazon in Brazil and who joined SoftBank last year, will assume the position of managing partner. The other replacement will be made by Franck, head of investments in Mexico. The CEO of SoftBank International, Michel Combes, will accumulate functions and will lead the SoftBank Latin America Fund, a position vacant since Claure’s departure. Even so, SoftBank will maintain its investments in the region and pledged to invest another $2 billion in the region this year.
