Meta’s first bond sale in euros has attracted €53 billion in investor orders, setting a record for a corporate offering in Europe, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company is seeking to raise up to €9 billion to support substantial investment in artificial intelligence, after issuing dollar-denominated bonds on Tuesday.
The order book is on course to exceed the more than €31 billion in demand recorded for an Anheuser-Busch InBev bond sale in 2016, Bloomberg data showed.
The offering comes during a particularly busy period for debt issuance by major US technology companies. Since late last week, Meta, Microsoft, Oracle and Alphabet have collectively raised nearly $57 billion in the markets.
According to a source cited by Bloomberg, Meta is offering six euro bond tranches with maturities ranging from just over four years to more than 38 years. The final pricing levels across the tranches are higher than those offered by other hyperscalers on euro-denominated debt.
Investor concerns about the pace at which hyperscalers are taking on debt, as well as questions about the returns on AI investment, have pushed up their cost of capital. Meta is expected to set the yield on its 6.26-year tranche at 140 basis points above mid-swaps. By comparison, Alphabet priced a six-year bond on Monday with a 90-basis-point spread.
Sources: ANSA Economia.