Meta Starts Debut Euro Bond Sale After $15 Billion US Deal

Meta Platforms Inc. is making its debut in the euro bond market, joining a burst of borrowing by the world’s biggest technology companies as they race to finance trillions of dollars of investments in artificial intelligence.

The Facebook parent is turning to European investors after raising $15 billion in the dollar bond market on Tuesday. Its euro offering comes after one of the busiest-ever stretches for Big Tech debt, with Meta, Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp. and Alphabet Inc. tapping markets for almost $57 billion combined since late last week.

Technology borrowers who took a three-month hiatus from the US high-grade debt market are returning just as investors grow more wary of their spending on the data centers, chips and other infrastructure needed to power AI. Microsoft broke the drought with a $25 billion sale last week, followed by a $10 billion deal by Oracle.

Meta is offering the euro debt in six parts with maturities ranging from just over four years to over 38 years, according to a person familiar with the matter. The initial price level for the shortest tranche is around 140 basis points over mid-swaps while the longer tranche is being shown at around 370 basis points over, said the person, who asked not to be identified.

It is Meta’s first bond sale outside its home market. Investors placed as much as $58 billion of bids for the dollar transaction on Tuesday. Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley are managing the euro bond transaction, which is expected to price later on Wednesday.

The flood of deals arrives as the AI buildout faces greater scrutiny from both investors and politicians. There are also questions over whether Democrats who just swept to control of Congress in the US midterm elections will be as friendly to Big Tech. Voter anger over the vast data centers being built across the country was a major election issue in states like Ohio, where Republican Senator Jon Husted was defeated.

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