Morgan Stanley is divesting the remaining $1.23 billion in debt associated with Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform Twitter, now rebranded as X, according to a source familiar with the situation on Thursday. The bank is presenting this debt as a fixed-rate loan with an interest rate of 9.5%, offered at a discounted price ranging from 97.5 to 98 cents on the dollar. This action enables the investment bank to eliminate the debt linked to a highly publicized transaction. Since assuming control, Musk has significantly transformed the social media platform.
In addition to Morgan Stanley, other financial institutions such as Bank of America, Barclays, and Mitsubishi UFJ also contributed to Musk’s acquisition, providing a total of $13 billion in loans. Musk’s close ties to former U.S. President Donald Trump and the anticipated increase in X’s revenue have facilitated the banks in offloading nearly all of the $13 billion they had retained on their balance sheets for almost two years. The acquisition was financed through a combination of a $6.5 billion secured term loan, a $500 million revolving credit facility, a $3 billion unsecured loan, and $3 billion in secured loans.
