Walmart launched its first Canadian-dollar bond offering on Oct. 19 while pricing $3 billion in U.S. debt, Bloomberg News reported.
Bloomberg said the Canadian offering opened at C$5 billion, which it valued at about $3.55 billion. At that reported launch size, the two offerings would total about $6.5 billion, according to the outlet.
Walmart’s preliminary prospectus supplements describe four series of notes in each currency. The documents leave principal amounts, interest rates and maturity dates blank. Walmart says it intends to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, potentially including repayment, refinancing or replacement of maturing debt.
The U.S. sale was divided into four tranches with terms from three to 10 years, Bloomberg reported. The outlet said investor demand peaked above $14 billion and put the longest tranche’s yield 45 basis points above U.S. Treasuries.
In Canada, the notes would be sold privately to accredited investors who also qualify as permitted clients, Walmart’s Canadian filing says. It also permits private sales elsewhere outside the United States. Payments would normally be made in Canadian dollars, with a limited U.S.-dollar fallback if Canadian dollars become unavailable. The filing warns investors of foreign-exchange risk.
Walmart raised $4.25 billion in a five-tranche U.S. bond sale in April, according to its prospectus. Bloomberg described the Canadian offering as a way to diversify funding and cited Alphabet and Amazon as other issuers of Canadian-dollar bonds.
The borrowing comes as Walmart plans spending on stores, e-commerce and automation, Bloomberg reported. Analyst estimates compiled by the outlet put its 2027 spending at a record $29 billion; Bloomberg also reported about $3.3 billion of Walmart bonds maturing that year.
