SoftBank's $10 billion-plus junk-bond sale draws $20 billion of early demand ahead of Thursday pricing

SoftBank Group has drawn more than $20 billion of preliminary, non-binding investor demand for its jumbo junk-bond offering — nearly double the roughly $11 billion it is seeking — ahead of pricing expected Thursday, with indicative yields on the dollar tranches discussed at 8.75% to 9.875%.

The figures remain preliminary and can change before pricing, which is scheduled for Thursday with settlement expected September 29. But if the bonds price at the discussed levels, they would carry SoftBank's highest yields for dollar securities at those maturities — a live read on what the market charges for AI-concentration risk on a junk-rated balance sheet.

The offering — $10 billion of dollar-denominated senior unsecured notes in 3½, 5½ and 7½-year tenors plus about €1 billion of euro notes in 4 and 6-year tenors, led by Citigroup and JPMorgan — would be the largest Asia-Pacific and Japan non-financial corporate bond deal on record if completed at planned size, surpassing 7-Eleven's $10.93 billion sale in January 2021, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters. Reuters' Morning Bid called it 'one of the largest junk bond deals ever and a barometer of lender confidence in the AI story.'

As TickerGrove reported when the sale launched Tuesday, the proceeds will fund SoftBank's $10 billion payment for the third tranche of its follow-on OpenAI investment, expected to close October 1, and cancel a separate $10 billion 2026 bridge loan tied to that payment. The longest euro tranche was discussed in the mid-8% area, the Japan Times reported.

Fitch Ratings assigned the proposed notes a BB+ rating, according to the Reuters term-sheet wire. S&P's BB+ is the issuer rating on SoftBank itself — the agency has not rated the new notes.

The sale is the latest leg in SoftBank's refinancing chain. A $40 billion bridge facility arranged in March primarily for earlier OpenAI follow-on investments saw $30 billion drawn, and SoftBank repaid the remaining $25.9 billion balance early on September 15. The group has issued nearly $15 billion of notes across currencies this year, making it the largest junk-rated borrower in global bond markets in 2026, the Japan Times reported citing Bloomberg data — and it raised ¥1 trillion through a seven-year domestic unsecured bond this month at a 4.75% coupon.

The backdrop is a balance sheet under growing market scrutiny. The yield on SoftBank's dollar bond due 2031 reached 8.2% this month, up from 6.7% in January, as the gap over Treasuries widened; the cost of insuring SoftBank's debt against default recently hit a three-year high; and the share price has fallen about 34% from its June peak, the Japan Times reported.

What to watch Thursday: whether the more than $20 billion of preliminary interest converts into a final book, where the five tranches actually price, and the final allocation. The October 1 OpenAI tranche close — which could be accelerated if OpenAI lists its shares publicly — is the payment this sale exists to fund.

Until Thursday's pricing, every record in this story is provisional: the yields, the demand and the final size are indications, not outcomes. SoftBank is expected to price the five tranches Thursday and settle the sale September 29.