Apple hoping to raise up to $12bn from bumper bond sale
APPLE is planning to tap US markets for up to $12bn (£7.13bn) as part of a seven-part bond offering to help the tech giant finance the $90bn share buyback it announced last week.
The offering, rated Aa1 by ratings agency Moody’s yesterday, is split across notes with maturities from three to 30 years according to Apple’s initial filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Apple is reported to be seeing strong demand for the new issuance with more than $40bn in orders pouring in.
“Apple has a very robust financial profile with operating margins, coverage, and cash flow metrics that compare favourably with companies that also have very high debt ratings,” said Moody’s in its rating. “The stable outlook reflects Moody’s expectations that Apple will continue to maintain and defend its very strong market position in mobile devices and tablets as well as expand its addressable market to new regions and carriers.”
While other issuance in euros and sterling could come later, only the US dollar-denominated deal was in the market yesterday, led by Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs.