The billionaire duo of Thomas Tull and Mark Walter are preparing to make large acquisitions and seed new investments in artificial intelligence across the financial services, sports and defence sectors after launching an effort to raise $15bn from investors, including Mubadala Capital.

Tull, the former owner of movie studio Legendary Entertainment and a large investor in defence start-ups, told the Financial Times in an interview that he and Walter, chief executive of Guggenheim Partners, were on the prowl for acquisitions after combining their $40bn in personal investments to create a holding company and raise billions more in outside capital.

“Globally, there are going to be really interesting opportunities, whether it’s to acquire companies, whether it’s to invest in new technologies and get behind things,” Tull said.