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BlackRock Issues $12.55 Billion Meta Data Center Bonds with 7.534% Yield

On July 28, Bloomberg reported that BlackRock issued $12.55 billion in investment-grade bonds for Meta's data center project located in El Paso, Texas, which rose during early trading on Monday. The yield on these bonds was 7.534%, 287.5 basis points higher than U.S. Treasury yields, a level more commonly seen in the junk bond market. During the issuance phase, the subscription size for the related bonds was approximately $20 billion, only 1.6 times the issuance amount, significantly lower than the average subscription level of about 4 times for bond issuances this year. However, the higher yield ultimately attracted investors, and the yield spread in the secondary market narrowed to about 260 basis points above U.S. Treasuries, down from 287.5 basis points at issuance. Recently, technology companies have been heavily engaged in large-scale bond financing, putting pressure on investors' capacity to absorb new AI-related debt. There has been a sell-off in tech bonds, as companies like Alphabet continue to expand capital expenditures and may issue more bonds, which has weakened market demand for newly issued bonds. The early performance of BlackRock's bonds contrasts with recent issuances from companies like SpaceX. After SpaceX completed its first investment-grade bond issuance in June, the related bonds fell in the secondary market, leading investors to face significant paper losses.

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