SoftBank Tests Credit Market With $11B OpenAI Bond Deal

SoftBank Group launched an offering equivalent to more than $11 billion to fund its latest OpenAI investment, testing investor demand for one of the largest speculative-grade corporate bond transactions on record.

The Japanese investment conglomerate is marketing $10 billion of dollar-denominated senior unsecured notes and €1 billion, or about $1.15 billion, of euro-denominated debt, according to a term sheet reported by Reuters.

The dollar issuance is divided among 3½-, 5½- and 7½-year maturities, while the euro portion includes four- and six-year notes. Pricing is expected Sept. 24, followed by settlement Sept. 29. If completed at its intended size, the transaction would rank among 2026’s 20 largest global corporate bond transactions, based on Dealogic data cited by Bloomberg.

Proceeds are earmarked for SoftBank’s $10 billion third installment of a follow-on investment in OpenAI, scheduled to close Oct. 1, and general corporate purposes. The issuance will replace a $10 billion bridge facility arranged for the same investment, extending the financing across multiple maturities.

Initial discussions indicated the dollar notes could yield between 9% and 10%, reflecting both their speculative-grade status and investors’ demand for compensation as SoftBank concentrates more capital in artificial intelligence.

Completion of the third installment would bring SoftBank’s cumulative OpenAI investment to about $64.6 billion and its ownership interest to roughly 13%.

Citigroup is leading the dollar offering, while JPMorgan Chase is leading the euro issuance. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank also hold senior coordination roles.