* SoftBank to split shares two-for-one on June 27
* SoftBank to maintain dividend at 44 yen per share
* Vision Fund bets worth $72.3 bln vs $60.1 bln acquisitioncost
* Value of its Uber stake grew by 418 bln yen
* Vision Fund 2 to be announced soon - Son
(Recasts, adds executive comment)By Sam NusseyTOKYO, May 9 (Reuters) - Japan's SoftBank Group Corp announced a stock split while keeping the per-sharedividend unchanged for the year, effectively doubling itsshareholder payout, as it also reported a $3.8 billion valuationgain on its stake in Uber.
The news comes at a time when SoftBank and its almost $100billion Vision Fund stand at a possible inflection point withsome of its big tech bets like Uber Technologies headedtowards public listings, in what investors and industry expertssee as a test of SoftBank's investment strategy.The group is also considering listing the Saudi-backedVision Fund, which has invested roughly $80 billion in around 80tech firms, a source told Reuters last week. A second Vision Fund will be announced soon, SoftBank Groupfounder and CEO Masayoshi Son said at a news conference onThursday, adding it would be similar in size to the first fundwith SoftBank likely to be the only investor initially.
The value of Vision Fund's investments in 69 companies hadrisen to $72.3 billion by end-March, from their $60.1 billionacquisition cost, driven by gains at companies like Uber andIndian hotels startup OYO, SoftBank said on Thursday.The fund's stake in Uber, which is set to make its marketdebut on Friday, grew 418 billion yen ($3.8 billion) in value,while its share in OYO added 154 billion yen in value.Overall, the fair value rose for 29 firms and fell for 12over the period, SoftBank said, with the rest unchanged.
The value of its stake in Guardant Health , a VisionFund portfolio company listed last year, grew 203 billion yen.
Aided by the soaring valuations of its tech investments, theJapanese conglomerate's operating profit for the year endedMarch jumped 80.5 percent to 2.4 trillion yen ($22 billion).
That was above a 2.1 trillion yen SmartEstimate that gives agreater weighting to top-rated analysts, Refinitiv data shows.
SHAREHOLDER PAYOUTThe tech and telecoms group said its common stock will besplit at a two-for-one ratio on June 27, while its dividend willremain unchanged at 44 yen per share.
"We are finally in a phase where we can meet shareholders'expectations," Son said.SoftBank's transition away from telecoms towards techinvestments accelerated with the 2.35 trillion yen listing of athird of its domestic telco SoftBank Corp in Decemberin what is Japan's largest-ever initial public offering.That provided the funds for a share buyback that has helpeddrive up SoftBank Group's stock by nearly 60 percent this year.The shares closed up 0.7 percent ahead of the earnings.
On Wednesday, the group said it would sell down its share inYahoo Japan as SoftBank Corp hiked its stake in theinternet firm to 45 percent.
The deal will function as a transfer of funds from the telcoto its parent. Part of the proceeds will be used to fund thesecond Vision Fund, Son said on Thursday. The market welcomed the news, with SoftBank Corp's shares up7 percent on Thursday and Yahoo Japan's shares up 9.4 percent.
SoftBank Group did not provide a forecast for the currentfinancial year, citing uncertain business factors.
($1 = 109.9100 yen) (Reporting by Sam Nussey; Additional reporting by KevinBuckland; Editing by Himani Sarkar)