Masayoshi Son's SoftBank To Raise $1.86B Through Bond Issuance For AI Investment And Debt Repayment
Masayoshi Son's SoftBank To Raise $1.86B Through Bond Issuance For AI Investment And Debt Repayment
Japanese multinational conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp. (OTC:SFTBY) has announced its intention to issue bonds worth approximately $1.86 billion. The proceeds will be directed towards the repayment of existing debt and a strategic shift towards artificial intelligence (AI) investments.
日本跨国企业集团软银集团公司（场外交易代码：SFTBY）宣布打算发行价值约18.6亿美元的债券。所得款项将用于偿还现有债务和向人工智能（AI）投资的战略转移。
What Happened: SoftBank plans to issue $900 million in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds and 900 million euros ($962.8 million) in euro-denominated bonds, both in two tranches, CNBC reported on Friday. The interest rates for these bonds will range from 5.4% to 7% per annum.
发生了什么：CNBC周五报道，软银计划分两批发行9亿美元的美元计价债券和9亿欧元（合9.628亿美元）的欧元计价债券。这些债券的年利率将从5.4％到7％不等。
The funds raised will be used for "repayment of indebtedness and for general corporate purposes."
筹集的资金将用于 “偿还债务和一般公司用途”。
The decision to raise funds through debt comes as SoftBank's financial losses begin to narrow, following some successes including the initial public offering of chip designer Arm.
通过债务筹集资金的决定是在软银的财务损失开始缩小之际做出的，此前软银取得了一些成功，包括芯片设计师Arm的首次公开募股。
Simultaneously, SoftBank, through its Vision Fund, has hinted at increasing investments in AI companies. Masayoshi Son, founder and CEO of SoftBank, recently discussed a concept he termed artificial super intelligence (ASI), which he expects to exist within the next decade.
同时，软银通过其愿景基金暗示将增加对人工智能公司的投资。软银创始人兼首席执行官孙正义最近讨论了一个他称之为人工超级智能（ASI）的概念，他预计该概念将在未来十年内存在。
Why It Matters: SoftBank's move to issue bonds comes on the heels of a recent announcement by Son about the company's intent to make a significant investment in AI. This decision aligns with SoftBank's strategic focus on AI, as evidenced by its planned investment in Perplexity AI, a Jeff Bezos-backed AI startup. This investment, part of a larger $250 million funding round, is set to bolster SoftBank's AI portfolio.
为何重要：软银发行债券的举动是在Son最近宣布该公司打算对人工智能进行大量投资之后采取的。这一决定与软银对人工智能的战略重点一致，软银计划投资杰夫·贝佐斯支持的人工智能初创公司Perplexity AI就证明了这一点。这项投资是更大规模的2.5亿美元融资的一部分，将加强软银的人工智能投资组合。
Recently, SoftBank's announcement to introduce an AI-powered medical service jointly with U.S. healthcare company Tempus AI Inc. (NASDAQ:TEM) in Japan sent Tempus' stock to surge nearly 3% in pre-market hours trading.
最近，软银宣布与美国医疗保健公司Tempus AI Inc.（纳斯达克股票代码：TEM）在日本共同推出基于人工智能的医疗服务，这使Tempus的股票在盘前交易中飙升了近3％。
The bond issuance is likely an attempt to capitalize on the improving investor sentiment towards the company, underscored by a 65% year-to-date rise in its shares.
此次债券发行可能是为了利用投资者对该公司情绪的改善，今年迄今为止其股价上涨了65％，这突显了这一点。
Photo by NP27 on Shutterstock.
照片由 NP27 在 Shutterstock 上拍摄。
This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Pooja Rajkumari
这个故事是使用 Benzinga Neuro 创作的，由 Pooja Rajkumari