SoftBank enlists new banks for $40 billion credit facility for OpenAI investment

SoftBank expands the circle of banks willing to finance the holding's stake in OpenAI. New participants have joined the syndication of a $40 billion bridge loan, and the deal itself has entered the soft phase of placement among lenders.

Who Joined the Syndicate

Among the new participants are HSBC, BNP Paribas, and Intesa Sanpaolo. They are joining the already engaged JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, and MUFG Bank. For the debt market, this is a rare large-scale test of appetite for AI deals: banks are effectively evaluating not only the borrower itself, but also the probability that SoftBank's investment in OpenAI will quickly turn into a liquid asset.

SoftBank signed this loan on March 27, 2026. This is an unsecured bridge loan with a 12-month term, primarily needed to finance an additional investment in OpenAI through Vision Fund 2. These funds were used to participate in OpenAI's $110 billion round — the largest private round in history, where the company's valuation reached $852 billion. After this deal, SoftBank's total stake in OpenAI grew to approximately $64.6 billion.

The soft launch phase means that the syndication has not yet moved to full market placement, but the circle of interested parties is already noticeably expanding. For SoftBank, this is an important signal: the wider the base of creditors, the easier it is to distribute risk and the lower the probability that a few banks will have to hold too large a share of the loan on their own balance sheet. It is also important separately that the deal attracts not only American and Japanese participants, but also major European banks.

• Loan amount — $40 billion
• Repayment term — until March 26, 2027
• Collateral — none
• Primary purpose — to finance SoftBank's $30 billion investment
• Total volume of SoftBank's investments in OpenAI — approximately $64.6 billion

Betting on IPO

A key moment in the deal structure is the absence of collateral. OpenAI shares, SoftBank's stake in Arm Holdings, or other specific assets are not pledged for the loan. This means that banks are taking the risk onto SoftBank's overall balance sheet, rather than on a specific package of securities. From this follows the main conclusion: the loan looks like a short bridge to a liquidity event that will allow the debt to be repaid or calmly replaced with longer-term financing.

The most likely scenario for such an event is OpenAI's IPO, which the market is discussing as a possibility already in the fourth quarter of 2026. If the offering is delayed, pressure on SoftBank will increase noticeably: the group will either have to seek new financing or free up liquidity at the expense of other assets. S&P in March already downgraded its credit rating outlook for the company to negative and separately pointed out the concentration risk: OpenAI could represent about 30% of SoftBank's portfolio. In parallel, the group is also discussing a separate margin loan of $10 billion backed by OpenAI shares, which makes the entire structure even more leveraged.

Masayoshi Son has built large technology bets before, but the current structure stands out by scale even by SoftBank standards. The company is not simply increasing its stake in OpenAI, but doing so at the expense of short-term debt, betting on future asset revaluation. In essence, the group is trying to hold and grow its position without selling other strong assets. This scheme works as long as the market believes in OpenAI's quick exit to the stock exchange or at least in another major liquidity event in the coming months.

What This Means

The expansion of the banking syndicate shows that major lenders are willing to finance the AI boom not only through equity and venture rounds, but also through massive corporate loans. For OpenAI, this is an indirect signal of confidence from the debt market, and for SoftBank — a chance to grow its stake without urgently selling other assets. But the longer OpenAI remains a private company, the higher the risk that this bridge loan will turn from a convenient tool into an expensive refinancing problem.