SoftBank Group Corp. is again courting lenders for a $10 billion loan secured by its stake in OpenAI, Bloomberg reported on Friday. The financing would sit alongside a similar margin loan that closed on Aug. 6, marking the second such facility in just weeks.
The latest request stems from a broader effort to replace a $40 billion unsecured bridge facility SoftBank signed in March. That bridge, intended to fund the group’s OpenAI commitments, must be repaid or refinanced by March 2027. With more than $60 billion already pledged to OpenAI and related AI infrastructure, the conglomerate needs longer‑term capital to keep the exposure on a sustainable footing.
SoftBank’s first attempt to secure a durable loan began in April, when it approached lenders for a $10 billion margin loan backed by its OpenAI shares. Valuing a private‑company stake proved difficult; no consensus emerged on the collateral’s worth. By May, the target was trimmed to $6 billion, but the deal stalled.
In July, SoftBank revived the $10 billion ask after offering a corporate guarantee that gives lenders recourse to the parent company if the pledged shares fall short of expectations. Reuters noted that the guarantee unlocked the deal. Four months after the initial approach, Bloomberg confirmed the loan’s closure on Aug. 6, describing the structure as “materially friendlier to lenders” than the original proposal.
Just weeks later, the financing machine kept moving. On Aug. 26, Bloomberg reported that SoftBank was weighing a bond sale of up to $20 billion to refinance the OpenAI borrowing. Two days after that, the outlet cited a report of the second $10 billion loan, suggesting the group is layering multiple instruments to manage its debt load.
SoftBank has also tapped Japanese retail investors, selling a record $6.3 billion bond earlier this year to shore up its balance sheet when institutional appetite waned. The equity side has been forgiving; the AI rally propelled SoftBank past Toyota as Japan’s most valuable listed company, giving shareholders a higher tolerance for leverage tied to the OpenAI position.
OpenAI’s own filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in June hints at a future public listing, which would provide a market price for the shares SoftBank continues to pledge. Until such a price is established, lenders are essentially betting on an internal valuation that exists only on paper.
Despite the flurry of activity, SoftBank has not issued a public comment on the latest loan request, nor confirmed the lenders, terms, or timeline. The next fixed point in the saga is the March 2027 deadline for the original bridge facility, underscoring the urgency of finding permanent financing for the group’s AI bets.
This article was written with the assistance of AI.
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