(March 11): Amazon.com Inc has raised US$37 billion from a US dollar bond sale that, combined with a planned euro sale, could swell to nearly US$50 billion.
The blockbuster fundraising is the fourth-largest US corporate bond sale on record and the biggest one that isn’t tied to an acquisition. The offering was increased from initial guidance of US$25 billion to US$30 billion.
Amazon sold US high-grade debt in 11 tranches, ranging from two to 50 years. The yield on the longest portion of that offering — a note maturing in 2076 — is 1.3 percentage points above Treasuries, according to a person familiar with the transaction.
The US portion of the deal has drawn about US$126 billion of orders, one of the largest books ever for a corporate offering, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Amazon also plans to make its debut in the European market, aiming to raise at least €10 billion from a potential eight-part bond sale with maturities of two to 38 years slated for as early as Wednesday. It would be the most tranches sold by a company in the region.
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JPMorgan Chase & Co, Barclays plc, Bank of America Corp and Societe Generale SA are among the banks working on the euro deal, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Representatives for Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan, Citigroup Inc and HSBC Holdings plc — among the banks managing Amazon’s offering — declined to comment. In a reply, Amazon pointed to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Tuesday for the deal.
Bond sales have restarted globally after US President Donald Trump hinted that the war with Iran will end soon. Around €26.9 billion of bonds priced in Europe on Tuesday, making it the busiest day since the conflict in the Middle East started over a week ago. Debt capital markets globally slowed sharply to start March.
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“Elevated volatility is slamming the issuance window shut, and with potentially record one‑day supply, dealers are hypersensitive to every tick in broader risk,” said Mark Clegg, a senior fixed-income trader at Allspring Global Investments. “Week by week becomes hour by hour.”
Amazon’s strong credit profile means its debt sale can’t be seen as representative of broader credit-market demand as geopolitical uncertainty continues to be the main factor weighing on markets, said Slawomir Soroczynski, head of fixed income at Crown Agents Investment Management.
The opportunity to buy debt tied to a highly profitable technology and logistics giant offers an alternative to US Treasuries, which remain sensitive to risks from inflation and America’s mounting fiscal deficit.
“We’re in an environment of heavy issuance and a secular decline in credit quality of government securities,” said Robert Tipp, chief investment strategist and head of global bonds at PGIM Fixed Income.
“Companies, though, have a more clearly enunciated interest in maintaining their credit quality than do governments at this point,” Tipp added. “When all yields go up, it’s another reason investors are willing to make that leap and part with the government securities and going to corporates.”
The multi-currency nature of the overall offering could also provide some shelter from dollar volatility, which has been a consistent theme as the US tries to reshape its trade policy with tariffs.
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Still, the conflict in Iran adds even more uncertainty to the financial markets, where volatility is high across asset classes. The risk of elevated oil prices could sour investors’ moods and traders continue to assess how much advancements in artificial intelligence will disrupt software publishers.
The Amazon deal is the latest in a series of jumbo note offerings by hyperscalers as they plan to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure. Alphabet Inc raised roughly US$32 billion in the US and European high-grade bond markets last month while Oracle Corp priced US$25 billion of dollar notes.
“Going forward we expect more of the same as the hyperscalers have significant needs,” Hans Mikkelsen, a credit strategist at TD Securities, wrote in a Tuesday note.
Amazon’s last US debt sale was in November, when it borrowed US$15 billion.
Potentially selling 19 different notes in two currencies “hit on the notion that these hyperscalers need to tap every investor base across tenors and currencies it can to finance the immense amount of spending planned for this year and going forward”, said Zachary Griffiths, head of investment-grade and macro strategy at CreditSights.
Amazon’s latest offering comes at a time when equity investors have grown more worried that the company’s massive spending on AI may not pay off. The firm last month said it would invest about US$200 billion in data centres, chips and other equipment in 2026, topping analysts’ estimates.
The company — along with Alphabet, Meta Platforms Inc, Oracle and Microsoft Corp — has forecast capital expenditures of about US$650 billion in 2026. In contrast, 21 companies including the largest US-based automakers, Exxon Mobil Corp and Walmart Inc are projected to spend a combined US$180 billion, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg in February.
Amazon’s sale was among 11 in the US investment-grade market on Tuesday.
“We expect that borrowers with financing needs will keep monitoring the market closely and look to take advantage of periods of relative stability,” said Kyle Stegemeyer, head of investment-grade debt capital markets and syndicate at US Bank, “especially given the healthy credit backdrop and the continued strong bid for high-quality assets”.
Investors have placed orders equal to about 4.1 times the size of this year’s US investment-grade deals, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
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