SoftBank Group has secured a two-year $11.87bln loan to support its investment
in U.S. AI firm OpenAI, above an earlier $10bln target, with about 20 banks
committing, sources said. The deal adds to recent debt moves including a $10bln
margin loan secured by its OpenAI stake and consideration of a $10–20bln dollar
bond sale, despite market concerns about rising AI-sector credit risk. SoftBank
said it will repay the remaining balance of an earlier roughly $40bln loan used
to fund OpenAI investments, planning to repay $25.9bln on Sept. 15; that
unsecured loan had been due in March next year. The company will meet investors
in New York this week to gauge demand for a potential dollar high-yield bond
offering.
