Apple Polishing

What company with a cash hoard of $145 billion would issue new debt of $17 billion … the largest debt offering in history for any corporation? (Isn’t this like carrying coals to Newcastle?)  The surprise answer is Apple Inc. which completed this (3-times oversubscribed) debt offering yesterday at interest rates that approximate what the U.S. Treasury pays for its debt issuances … see: NY Times Article.  But the real question is, “Why?”

Pay no attention to most of the operational rationales given in the above NY Times article.  I am convinced that Apple’s investment bankers (Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank) have persuaded it that interest rates have reached their nadir and must soon go up … and go up significantly.  When this happens, Apple will be able to buy back this debt at a considerable discount … and pocket billions of dollars of capital profits from this round-trip transaction  ... and, of course, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank will also prosper.

The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank’s Open Market Committee is finishing today its two days of meetings to update its stance on its quantitative easing (QE) and interest rates policies.  So, if there are any surprises coming out of this meeting or any of its next few meetings, consider this Apple debt offering to be of quite good predictive value.

Afterward: For another view see:  Financial Times Article ... could have some merit ... but I stick by my reasoning.