For the first time since December 2010, IBM is raising cash by selling floating-rate debt – $2 billion worth.
In a regulatory filing, IBM (NYSE: IBM) disclosed that it had raised $2 billion in a two-part bond offering, Bloomberg news reports.
And Big Blue got a good deal.
The interest rate is less than banks pay each other when they borrow money.
The rate “included floating-rate debt yielding less than the benchmark interest rate for more than $300 trillion of financial products,” Bloomberg noted.
“The largest computer-services provider issued equal $1 billion portions of notes due 2015 that pay 2 basis points less than the London interbank offered rate and 1.25 percent securities maturing 2018 that yield 47 basis points more than similar-maturity Treasuries, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.”
The securities pay less than Libor, the rate at which banks say they can borrow in dollars from each other.
Proceeds from IBM’s sale will be used for general corporate purposes, IBM noted.
IBM shares closed at $202.79 Tuesday. Its 52-week high is $211.79; the low is $181.85.
[IBM ARCHIVE: Check out more than a decade of IBM stories as reported in WRAL Tech Wire.]
