Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is set to price a fresh corporate bond on Monday - six months after it sold $20bn of debt to fund its acquisition of LinkedIn (NYSE:LKND).
It was not immediately clear for what purpose the additional funding would be consigned after LinkedIn ceased to trade on the stockmarket on December 7.
Microsoft is one of only a small handful of US companies to still carry a triple-A rating – even the United States hasn’t this
The bond comes at seven maturities ranging from three years to forty years, according to reports from Bloomberg.
The deal comes after a breakneck start to the year for global bond issuance, with sales of debt running at their fastest clip since 2013.
However, the prospect of higher interest rates has raised question marks over the sustainability of current levels of issuance and may go some way to explain why Microsoft is raising cash now to lock in lower rates.
The bond sale last summer at $20bn was the fifth-largest corporate bond sale on record at the time.
Barclays and HSBC are bookrunners on the deal.
Microsoft shares were down 0.3% at $65.60 pre-market.