SoftBank issues $11.1 billion in bonds in OpenAI financing push

Technology investor ‌SoftBank Group has ​issued a total of $11.1 billion in dollar- and euro-denominated bonds, ‌a filing showed on Thursday, as it looks to generate cash to continue its investments in ‌artificial intelligence.

SoftBank issued dollar-denominated senior notes of $1 billion at ‌a 3-1/2-year term, $4.5 billion at 5-1/2 years and $4.5 billion at 7-1/2 years, the filing showed. The ⁠bonds ​pay interest rates ⁠of 8.625%, 9.25% and 9.75% respectively. It also issued ⁠two €500 million tranches of euro-denominated senior notes with terms ​of four and six years, yielding 7.125% and ⁠8%, the filing showed.

The bonds will be used to ⁠fund ​the final $10-billion tranche of $30 billion SoftBank committed to investing in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, taking its ⁠total investment to $64.6 billion when complete. This month it issued 1 ⁠trillion ⁠yen ($6.32 billion) in corporate bonds aimed at retail investors.

($1=158.2500 yen)