Alphabet sells yen bonds worth $3.6 billion, largest such issue by foreign company

Alphabet has sold 576.5 billion yen ($3.6 billion) in yen-denominated bonds, a term sheet showed on Friday, the largest-ever issue by a foreign company.

It is the first yen-denominated ‌debt issue ⁠for ⁠Alphabet, which like other tech giants is in the midst of a huge investment programme in artificial intelligence and has sought to diversify sources of funding.

The parent of Google has flagged capital ⁠expenditure of ‌as much as $190 billion this year and has issued bonds ⁠in euros, sterling, Canadian dollars and Swiss francs.


Demand was strong among domestic and international investors, Mizuho Securities, one of the underwriters, said, adding that the sale beat the previous record of a 430 billion yen issuance ‌by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway in 2019.

The term sheet showed Alphabet would issue bonds ⁠maturing in 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 30 and 40 years, with coupons ranging from 1.965% to 4.599%.

Mizuho Securities, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley are acting as joint bookrunners on the transaction.

($1 = 158.4500 yen)