
Uber Technologies Inc. is tapping the US investment-grade bond market for the first time since it attained the status of a blue-chip company.
It sold $4 billion of bonds in three pieces, said a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the details are private. The longest piece of the offering, a 30-year security, priced at 1.3 percentage points over Treasuries after initial talks of about 1.6 percentage points, said the person.
Early demand indications were around $8 billion following investor calls Tuesday, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. managed the bond sale.
Uber didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for BofA, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.
The deal was attractive because of the company's record profitability in the second quarter, double-digit bookings, and top-line growth, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Robert Schiffman. "Rapidly improving free cash flow trends should continue to propel Uber's ratings higher over the next few years," he added.
The proceeds from the offering are assumed to be used by Uber to repay about $1.97 billion of outstanding loans as of the end of June, and the remainder will be used to redeem $1.5 billion worth of 8 per cent senior notes due 2026 and for general corporate purpose, said the people.
The company's credit rating was first upgraded to BBB- by S&P Global Ratings from BB+ on Aug. 16. Days later, Fitch Ratings assigned Uber a BBB grade and, on Aug. 27, Moody's Ratings also raised the firm to investment grade.