Meta Platforms has entered the euro bond market for the first time, drawing record investor demand.
According to Bloomberg on Wednesday, people familiar with the matter said Meta's debut euro bond offering attracted 530 billion euros (about 597 billion US dollars) in investor orders, setting a historical record. Meta plans to raise up to 9 billion euros through a six-tranche euro bond sale, with pricing expected later on Wednesday.
This issuance marks Meta's first bond sale outside its home US market. It comes just one day after Meta completed a 15 billion US dollar bond offering. The back-to-back trips to both the dollar and euro bond markets highlight the tech giant's active efforts to expand its financing channels and fund artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure investments.
Six tranches span nearly 40 years
According to people familiar with the matter, Meta's euro bond offering is split into six tranches, with maturities of 4 years, 6 years, 8 years, 12 years, 18 years and over 38 years.
The shortest-dated bonds carry initial price guidance of about 140 basis points over the mid-swap rate, while the longest-dated bonds have spread guidance of about 370 basis points. Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are acting as lead underwriters for the offering.
Investor demand for Meta's dollar bond sale was equally strong. On Tuesday, the company's 15 billion US dollar bond deal drew up to 58 billion US dollars in orders.
Tech giants rush to raise funds, AI investment scale draws attention
Meta's euro bond issuance comes as major global technology companies are crowding into the bond market to raise funds.
Since late last week, four tech giants — Meta, Microsoft, Oracle and Alphabet — have raised nearly 57 billion US dollars in total. Previously, tech companies had paused issuing bonds in the US investment-grade market for three consecutive months. Microsoft broke that hiatus last week with a 25 billion US dollar bond sale, followed by Oracle's 10 billion US dollar fundraising.
Behind this wave of fundraising is the massive capital demand from tech giants for building artificial intelligence. Data centers, chips and other infrastructure construction are pushing tech companies to accelerate financing.
However, as the scale of AI infrastructure investment continues to expand, market scrutiny of related spending is also intensifying. Investors are paying closer attention to how much tech giants are investing in data centers and AI infrastructure.
At the same time, the US midterm elections have brought new political uncertainty to the tech industry. Democrats have just won control of Congress, and the market is watching whether their attitude toward big tech companies will change.
Bloomberg noted that voter dissatisfaction over data center construction has become an important issue in this election. In places such as Ohio, disputes over data center construction even influenced election results.
Against the backdrop of continued AI investment expansion, more cautious market attitudes toward capital expenditure and a shifting political environment, Meta's euro bond issuance attracted record order demand, showing that investors still maintain strong interest in its financing.
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