SoftBank Taps Mizuho, SMBC, JPMorgan to Run $15 Billion Loan

(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp.’s investments in AI will be financed through a loan in which Mizuho Bank Ltd., Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. serve as lead underwriters — a sign of the Japanese tech investor’s ability to secure financing for its outsized ambitions.  

The one-year $15 billion bridge loan, one of the biggest borrowings SoftBank has pulled off to date, will be financed by 21 banks and includes $1.35 billion from Mizuho, $1.25 billion from SMBC and $1 billion from JPMorgan, according to people familiar with the matter. It also includes $950 million each from HSBC Holdings Plc and Barclays Plc and $850 million apiece from seven banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., MUFG Bank Ltd. and Credit Agricole SA, said the people, who asked not to be named as the details of the financing remain private. 

SoftBank declined to comment. Representatives of the banks also declined to comment.

The proceeds will help SoftBank’s multi-year bid to sway artificial intelligence’s growth and direction. First on the agenda is a $6.5 billion acquisition of chip designer Ampere Computing LLC, along with an investment of as much as $30 billion into OpenAI, according to SoftBank Chief Financial Officer Yoshimitsu Goto, who revealed the outlines of the bridge loan at an earnings briefing last week. 

“Demand for the syndication was more than double the $15 billion required,” Goto said. “The swift response we received is a reflection of the strength of our relationship and our close communication with our banks.”

SoftBank is also in talks with potential debt investors for the $100 billion Stargate project, an AI infrastructure push in the US that aims to funnel more than $500 billion into data centers and secure the electricity and hardware they need. 

Some of the conversations behind Stargate have slowed due to market volatility, uncertainty around US trade policy and questions around the financial valuations of AI hardware, Bloomberg News has reported.

SoftBank is in constant discussion with banks about both its short- and long-term financial strategy, Goto said, adding that both Ampere and OpenAI represent key investments in the AI arena, and that Stargate is another investment on the horizon.

“It’s not true that banks are hesitating,” he said.

The group of 21 lenders comprises 6 Japanese banks, 10 from Europe and 5 from the US, SoftBank said. The Tokyo-based conglomerate attracted enough interest from banks to borrow more than $27 billion, according to SoftBank’s presentation slides. 

The large-scale dollar loan was signed on April 10, the people said. Bloomberg News reported in April that SoftBank was seeking to borrow as much as $16.5 billion to help fund AI investments in the US and that the money could be used to fund its OpenAI investments. 

Shares of SoftBank closed 0.7% lower in Tokyo on Wednesday, taking this year’s decline to 18%. 

SoftBank’s previous mega-loans include a $10 billion margin loan in 2021, backed by its shares in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. In 2017, the company issued ¥2.65 trillion in senior debt to refinance loans that backed the purchase of US carrier Sprint Corp. in 2013 and Arm Holdings Plc in 2016. 

(Updates with SoftBank shares in the second-to-last paragraph. An earlier version corrected the loan amounts being provided by the banks other than lead underwriters.)

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