A $40 billion bridge loan signed by SoftBank Group to finance its investment in the American technology giant OpenAI has attracted a new group of lenders that includes 21 financial institutions as part of a broader phase of the syndicated loan arrangement process, according to people familiar with the matter.
The group, which joins other financial institutions already participating in the deal, received a total share of approximately $7 billion in the value of the credit facility, sources said, requesting anonymity due to the privacy of the matter.
The sources added that First Abu Dhabi Bank, GIC, and Standard Chartered financed a share of approximately one billion dollars of the total loan.
They also explained that the remaining amount was distributed to a number of European, Japanese and Taiwanese banks.
Mechanism for calculating participation in the interim loan
The sources explained that the number of new lenders was calculated based on their parent entities, due to the participation of some banking institutions through several affiliated branches.
They added that the remaining portion of $33 billion of the bridge loan is still in the possession of the underwriters and senior lenders, with the possibility of engaging additional lenders later.
It is usual for the first lenders in such deals to distribute the loans to a broader group of financial institutions.
Historical loan deal and its returns
The loan, signed in March with a 12-month maturity, is among the largest bridge financings in the Asia-Pacific region ever, and is expected to generate more than $100 million in fees for underwriters.
The credit facility had already attracted nine new banks before it was offered for public distribution as part of the syndicated loan process in May, despite some bankers’ concerns about SoftBank’s exposure to OpenAI, which faces increasing competition from companies including Anthropic.
SoftBank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Standard Chartered and GIC declined to comment.
Interest rate on the bridging loan
The initial interest margin for the bridge loan is approximately 250 basis points over the overnight secured financing interest rate.
This brings the interest rate to 6.14% at the current levels of the overnight financing interest rate.
SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son pledged to go “aggressively” investing in OpenAI, with financing commitments currently exceeding $60 billion. Last month, OpenAI filed for public listing, and was valued at $852 billion during a financing round conducted in March.
