SoftBank is seeking more than $11 billion of junk bonds, comprised of $10 billion in dollar notes across three maturities and €1 billion across two, to help fund a follow-on OpenAI investment closing next month, according to Bloomberg. The yields under discussion run from roughly 9% on the shortest dollar tranche to as much as 10% on the 7.5-year, levels SoftBank has never paid before in either currency at those maturities, which doesn’t speak well to its current economic outlook. Few single borrowers have ever sold that much high-yield debt at once, setting aside distressed exchanges. SoftBank has committed close to $65 billion to OpenAI and added nearly $21 billion of borrowing capacity last week alone, including a $5 billion increase to the margin loan backed by its Arm shares. They really need this IPO!
