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Apple Inc is planning to sell $5 billion of bonds in the iPhone maker's fourth multi-billion dollar debt offering in the past two years as it preserves its overseas cash hoard, according a person with knowledge of the matter.
The company will sell the securities in as many as five parts, with the longest portion maturing in 30 years, said the person, who asked not to be identified because of a lack of authorisation to speak publicly.
The deal may price as early as Monday. Proceeds will be used for stock repurchases, dividend payments and debt repayments, among other things, the person said.
Cupertino, California-based Apple has issued the equivalent of $32.5 billion of bonds since April 2013, when it sold $17 billion in what at the time was the biggest corporate-bond offering ever.
The company's last debt deal was a sale of 2.8 billion ($3.17 billion) in November that allowed it to fund shareholder rewards without using cash from abroad that would be subject to US repatriation taxes.
"The company is building on the momentum of a strong past couple of weeks," Jody Lurie, a corporate credit analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia, which manages $61 billion in assets, said in a telephone interview.
Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are managing the debt sale, the person said.
Steve Dowling, a spokesman for Apple, didn't respond to a telephone call and e-mail seeking comment on the offering.
The borrowing comes after Apple posted a 30 percent jump in fiscal first quarter revenue to $74.6 billion on Jan. 27, its largest sales increase in three years. Net income rose 38 percent to a record $18 billion.
