(Reuters) – A group of Morgan Stanley-led banks is set to increase a sale of loans tied to Elon Musk’s social media platform X after receiving stronger-than-expected demand from investors, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.
The banks had initially planned to sell about $3 billion worth of loans, Reuters reported last month. However, they are now aiming to sell as much as $5.5 billion of the debt sitting on their books, the Bloomberg report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
In November, Reuters also reported that Musk’s political ascendancy and proximity to President Donald Trump had banks pondering over the improved prospects of the social media platform, helping them selling the debt without having to take a massive loss on the deal.
Morgan Stanley and others, such as Bank of America and Barclays, lent Musk money in 2022 to complete his $44 billion buyout of X, then known as Twitter.
Banks typically sell such loans to investors soon after a deal is done, but lenders have faced difficulties in offloading the debt in the case of X.
Morgan Stanley did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
(Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
