SoftBank Group has revived talks with a syndicate of lenders for a $10 billion loan backed by its OpenAI share after earlier efforts bogged down as banks struggled to price the private AI powerhouse. The financing would take the form of a margin loan, backed by SoftBank’s stake in OpenAI, with a projected term of two years and an option for a one-year extension.
SoftBank had previously urged banks to use merely the OpenAI stake as collateral, but lenders were apprehensive about the shares losing value. The Japanese IT investor has now made concessions to ease the approval of the merger. Reuters, citing sources familiar with the matter, said lenders in the current consortium include Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Mizuho Financial Group.
New Guarantee Aims to Calm Valuation Fears
This time, SoftBank is offering a corporate guarantee on the $10 billion loan, giving banks recourse to the company itself if the OpenAI collateral proves insufficient. The parties designed the move to address the “difficulty of valuing private companies” that blocked the earlier effort.
Therefore, lenders would avoid being fully exposed to swings in OpenAI’s valuation, even though the stake remains the primary security for the loan. The case shows that banks remain cautious about loans backed by private company holdings, where price discovery and exit options are less clear than for listed shares. It also shows how borrowers like SoftBank must sweeten terms to unlock large credit lines tied to fast-growing but opaque AI assets.
SoftBank’s renewed margin loan talks follow a separate $40 billion bridge facility it secured earlier this year to finance a $30 billion follow-on investment in OpenAI and other corporate needs. In that deal, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and MUFG Bank acted as underwriters, helping to lift SoftBank’s total OpenAI investment to about $64.6 billion and to roughly a 13% stake.
Thus, the new $10 billion loan would deepen SoftBank’s debt pile as it pursues growth in artificial intelligence, but it would also expand its financial flexibility tied to a major OpenAI shareholding. People familiar with the talks said discussions are ongoing and details could still change before any final agreement with the lending consortium.
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