[DEVELOPING] SoftBank plans a record ~1tn yen retail bond as its AI funding shifts toward borrowed money
SoftBank is preparing approximately 1 trillion yen (about $6.26bn) of seven-year notes aimed at Japanese retail investors, reported as the largest such issue by a Japanese company, alongside a separate dollar and euro issuance to cover OpenAI lending and a roughly $10bn loan taken against its OpenAI stake. Reporting indicates OpenAI would become 20-30% of SoftBank's investment assets after the additional $30bn commitment, second only to Arm. Note the framing gap the desk found on reading: the 'rising AI credit strains' headline carries no SoftBank credit spreads, CDS or debt metrics in the body, and discusses Nvidia and Oracle instead.