SoftBank launches $11 billion junk bond deal for OpenAI bet

SoftBank launches $11 billion junk bond deal for OpenAI bet

Mon, September 21, 2026 at 2:53 PM GMT+3 2 min read

SoftBank Group Corp. moved forward Monday with an offering of $10 billion in dollar-denominated and €1 billion in euro-denominated senior unsecured notes, with proceeds earmarked for its OpenAI investment, according to a term sheet, according to Reuters. The combined offering is equivalent to more than $11 billion.

The dollar tranche is structured across three tenors — 3.5, 5.5, and 7.5 years — while the euro portion carries 4-year and 6-year maturities. According to the term sheet, pricing is slated for September 24, with settlement to follow on September 29.

Should the offering close at its intended size, it would set a record as the biggest non-financial corporate bond deal ever from Asia Pacific and Japan, topping the $10.93 billion raised by 7-Eleven Inc. in January 2021, per LSEG data cited in the term sheet. The deal would also place among the top 20 corporate bond transactions worldwide in 2026, according to Bloomberg, citing Dealogic data.

The term sheet said the proceeds are earmarked for SoftBank's $10 billion contribution to the third tranche of its OpenAI follow-on investment, a transaction slated to close October 1, along with general corporate purposes. The bonds will also cancel a $10 billion bridge loan SoftBank had previously secured to fund the same investment.

Fitch Ratings assigned the proposed notes a BB+ rating, its highest speculative-grade level. According to Fitch, leverage at the Japanese conglomerate is likely to increase as it meets its investment commitments, though the firm is expected to maintain sufficient liquidity and continued access to debt markets.

Citigroup Inc. is the lead bookrunner for the dollar notes and JPMorgan Chase & Co. is the lead bookrunner for the euro notes. For the dollar notes, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs Group, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley share joint global coordinator duties; on the euro side, that responsibility falls to JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, and Goldman Sachs, according to the term sheet. SoftBank declined to comment on the term sheet.

The bond deal is the latest in a series of financing moves tied to SoftBank's deepening commitment to OpenAI. SoftBank's total cumulative investment in the ChatGPT maker is expected to reach approximately $64.6 billion upon completion of the third tranche — representing an ownership stake of roughly 13% — as disclosed by the company alongside its first-quarter earnings last month.

Bloomberg data show that SoftBank's multi-currency note issuances have totaled close to $15 billion in 2026, a volume that puts it ahead of all other speculative-grade borrowers in global bond markets this year. The company's stock has shed roughly 34% since hitting an all-time high in June, as investors have questioned how it will finance its ambitions and weighed its exposure to an OpenAI IPO timeline that may extend into 2027.