BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) was one of the biggest investors in the $27B private debt raised to build Meta Platforms’ giant data center in Louisiana, according to a media report.
The asset manager purchased more than $3B of bonds issued last week to finance Meta’s Hyperion project, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The deal is the largest private-debt offering ever and was assigned an investment-grade rating of A+ by S&P Global Ratings. Yet, the debt yields 6.58% at issue, a rate more characteristic of junk bonds, the WSJ said.
The debt was issued by a joint venture between Meta (NASDAQ:META) and Blue Owl, with Facebook parent Meta owning 80% of the venture and Blue Owl holding 20%.
A fraction of BlackRock’s Hyperion bond purchases were directed to its ETFs. An active high-yield ETF acquired Hyperion bonds last week valued at $2.1M on Monday, the fund’s largest investment, the WSJ said, citing fund disclosures.
The biggest buyer of the project’s debt is giant bond manager Finco, which bought $18B of the securities, people familiar with the matter told WSJ.
BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) stock edged up 0.1% in Wednesday premarket trading.