Amazon issues record-setting Canadian dollar-denominated corporate bond deal

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TORONTO -- Amazon has issued $14 billion (US$10.04 billion) of Canadian dollar-denominated notes, a final pricing term sheet filed with the SEC on Monday showed, marking a record size for the Canadian corporate bond market.

The previous record size of $8.5 billion was set by Google-parent Alphabet last month.

Global companies have flocked to Canada’s maple bond market this year, drawn by strong investor appetite and cheaper borrowing costs. Maple bonds are Canadian-dollar denominated bonds issued by foreign borrowers into the Canadian market.

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The five-part deal from the Seattle-based e-commerce giant includes maturities ranging from 2029 to 2056, the filing shows.

The 2029 notes were priced at a spread of 40 basis points over the Government of Canada curve, while the spread for the 2056 notes was 110 basis points over the 3.50 per cent Government of Canada bond due in December 2057.

Debt issues by so-called “hyperscalers” - or big tech companies - outside the United States this year are part of a push to diversify funding as the companies look to finance trillions of dollars of investment in AI infrastructure, especially data centers, in the years ahead.

In March, Amazon raised 14.5 billion euros (US$16.88 billion) from an eight-part deal, the largest ever in the euro corporate bond market.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith; Editing by Colin Barr and Andrea Ricci)