MUFG News & Events

More banks are being invited to join Softbank's (SFTBY) $40B loan backing its investment in OpenAI, Apple Ka Ying Li, Kari Soo Lindberg, and Min-Jeong Lee of Bloomberg report. The deal is currently in a "soft launch" phase, with additional lenders invited to join as sub-underwriters, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. Any interested parties are required to commit about $5B each, the sources added. According to SoftBank, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MUFG) have underwritten the bridge facility that is set to mature on March 25, 2027.

Softbank (SFTBY) has formed a company to build a foundation model for "physical AI", which autonomously controls robots and machines, in Japan through a public-private partnership, Nikkei Asia's Natsuki Yamamoto reports, citing sources. NEC (NIPNF), Honda Motor (HMC), Sony Group (SONY, MUFG Bank (MUFG), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking (SMFG), Mizuho Bank (MFG), Nippon Steel (NPSCY) and Kobe Steel (KBSTF) have invested in the unit and the Japanese government is mulling whether to offer support.

Latest data shows the largest indicative borrow rate increases among liquid option names include: Aptera Motors Corp. (SEV) 78.36% +3.96, DEFIANCE DAILY TARGET 2X LONG RIOT ETF (RIOX) 35.23% +2.71, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) 8.65% +2.06, Blackstone Secured Lending Fund (BXSL) 4.74% +0.71, Starfighters Space, Inc. (FJET) 34.20% +0.70, EETH ETF (EETH) 16.48% +0.66, Critical Metals Corp (CRML) 15.67% +0.37, Defiance Daily Target 2X Long ORCL ETF (ORCX) 9.96% +0.36, Eightco Holdings Inc (ORBS) 4.15% +0.34, and Draganfly (DPRO) 12.89% +0.28.

A group of approximately 20 lenders is providing a roughly $18B project finance loan to help fund the building of a data center campus linked to Oracle (ORCL), marking the most recent massive debt deal to help fund the AI boom, Bloomberg's Paula Seligson, Jeannine Amodeo, and Laura Benitez report. Sumitomo Mitsui (SMFG), BNP Paribas (BNPQY), Goldman Sachs (GS), and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MUFG) are administrative agents on the loan, the authors say, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The group has brought other banks into the fold, and will now sell the debt to additional firms and institutional investors in a retail syndication, with commitments due later this month, the authors note.