Uber Is Said to Seek $1.25 Billion Loan Deal

Uber Is Said to Seek $1.25 Billion Loan Deal

Uber is seeking $1.25 billion in its second foray in the U.S. leveraged loan market, according to Bloomberg, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The ride sharing company has begun approaching loan investors directly to borrow the funds, instead of going through banks, and has scheduled a March 9 meeting to discuss the financing, said the people, who asked not to be identified. Uber last tapped the loan market in 2016 for a $1.15 billion loan, a deal that was arranged by Morgan Stanley.

Uber, which posted an annual loss of $4.5 billion this month, is an atypical issuer for the loan market where decisions on how much to lend are typically tied to borrower debt ratios using earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda. Uber’s adjusted pro-forma Ebitda for the fourth quarter was negative $475 million, according to documents seen by Bloomberg.

The company is tapping a very receptive loan market where investors are willing to gobble up new deals. Uber was given a blended valuation of $54 billion by a SoftBank-led investor group. That makes it the biggest venture-backed technology enterprise without a stock listing. In addition to the 2016 loan, Uber also has a $2.2 billion credit line.