MANAMA  - Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat is in early talks to invest in Softbank Group's private equity fund that aims to target the technology sector, its chief executive said.

Mumtalakat could join other Gulf state funds such as the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia's main sovereign wealth fund, and Abu Dhabi's Mubadala, who have invested in SoftBank's $93 billion private equity Vision Fund.

"We're talking to them, we haven't made any commitment yet," Mahmood AlKooheji told Reuters in an interview. "I think it’s very interesting, and a lot of people have already put a lot of tickets (investments)."

The potential investment in SoftBank's fund would be the latest sign of Mumtalakat's geographical diversification, although the large majority of the fund's investments continue to be in Bahrain.

It holds the state's stakes in companies including Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) and telecoms company Batelco, has a portfolio valued at over $10 billion.

Outside of Bahrain, the fund has invested in companies such as the UK-based McLaren Group, or Italy's healthcare company KOS Group.

Mumtalakat, however, is not looking at investment opportunities in frontier markets: "we're not a venture sovereign wealth fund, we don’t take a lot of risk, we look for solid investments, where we know management is there, corporate governance is there, transparency is there."

In the Gulf, Mumtalakat is looking at a number of opportunities in Saudi Arabia, starting from the expected public listing of the Saudi national oil giant Aramco. "When it comes we’ll look at it", AlKooheji said about it.

Saudi officials have said the government plans to sell up to 5 percent of Aramco shares on one or more foreign exchanges in addition to Riyadh, in an initial public offering that could raise $100 billion.

"Saudi Arabia is a very positive, interesting story, and will be a boost for the region. In Bahrain we’ll benefit a lot from that, our economies are very close."

Mumtalakat, which has borrowed quite extensively in the past, is also looking at potential funding options, although it does not have debt due this year. In 2014, the fund issued a $600 million sukuk and raised a $500 million loan.

"This year we don't need to borrow but we're opportunistic if the conditions are good," said the chief executive. "We have maturities coming next year and the year after, and we're always engaging with our advisers."

He said the potential new borrowing will be used to refinance existing debt rather than to add leverage to the fund's balance sheet. (Editing by Saeed Azhar and Kim Coghill)

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