SoftBank Group Corp. has launched $10 billion and €1 billion ($1.15 billion) of senior unsecured notes to fund the third and final tranche of its follow-on investment in OpenAI, according to a term sheet cited in a Reuters report on Monday.
The dollar notes carry maturities of 3.5, 5.5 and 7.5 years, while the euro notes mature in four and six years, Reuters said. Citigroup and JPMorgan are the lead bookrunners for the transaction, with issuances scheduled to price on Sept. 24 and settle on Sept. 29.
Per the term sheet, SoftBank will use the proceeds to fund its third $10 billion investment in OpenAI, which is scheduled to close on Oct. 1. It completed the first tranche on April 1 and the second on July 1, drawing $10 billion under a bridge facility for each investment.
The bond financing follows SoftBank's decision to repay its existing bridge facility, arranged in March to primarily fund its OpenAI investment. The facility had a total capacity of $40 billion, of which $30 billion had been drawn. SoftBank said earlier this month that $25.9 billion remained outstanding and would be prepaid on Sept. 15.
The company said the full investment would take its cumulative investment in OpenAI to $64.6 billion, representing expected ownership interest of about 13%.
Last week, OpenAI held early-stage discussions with investors about a new funding round at a potential valuation of about $1.2 trillion, the Financial Times reported. The company's most recent funding round closed with $122 billion in committed capital at an $852 billion valuation.