Waymo taps Pimco, Blackstone to raise $3 billion debt, Bloomberg News reports

Sept 2 — Alphabet's Waymo is in the final stages of talks ​to raise debt for the first time, seeking more than $3 billion from lenders including Pacific ‌Investment Management and Blackstone, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people ⁠familiar with the matter.

Competition ​in the robotaxi sector ⁠has been heating up as Waymo jostles with ‌Amazon's Zoox and ‌Tesla's self-driving vehicles to emerge as leaders in ⁠a market with huge ⁠potential.

Here are some details:

• Pacific Investment Management Co., Blackstone and Sixth Street Partners are among the lenders, the report said.

• The debt would be unrated and could price at more than 500 ‌basis points over the benchmark, it ​said.

• Waymo and Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Blackstone, Pimco and Sixth Street Partners declined to comment.

• The company is turning to debt as it expands its driverless fleet and faces rising AI ​costs, the Bloomberg report said.

• Waymo has been working ‌with Goldman Sachs ‌and ⁠aims to finalize the deal in the coming days, though terms could still change, the report said.

• In February, Waymo raised $16 billion in a funding round ‌that valued the ​startup at $126 billion, nearly tripling ‌its valuation in ⁠less than ​two years.

(Reporting by Anzar Mehraj in Bengaluru; Editing by ​Sahal Muhammed)

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