JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs Raise Volta AI Loan Yields to Attract Investors

JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs Group raised the yield and improved terms on a $5 billion leveraged loan for Volta Infrastructure Holdings Ltd. Investors are currently demanding higher returns before they are willing to buy this high-risk debt tied to the AI boom. People familiar with the matter said the two banks began marketing the financing last week for Volta, an AI cloud startup, and completed the sale on Thursday. The loan carries a yield of 6.5 percentage points above the benchmark rate and was issued at a discount of 95 cents on the dollar. The pricing pushed the yield above the banks' previous estimate of 11%, approaching the highest interest rate level currently seen in AI infrastructure financing. A source who requested anonymity said the deal also added more investor protection provisions and adjusted the transaction structure: if the borrower repays the debt early, it must pay a penalty. A JPMorgan spokesperson declined to comment, while Goldman Sachs and Volta did not respond to requests for comment. Volta belongs to a group of AI companies known as "neoclouds," which mainly rent out access to chips and other AI infrastructure. The proceeds from this financing will be used to build a data center campus in Norway, operated in partnership with Volta Infrastructure and Bitdeer Technologies Group, a bitcoin miner and data center operator.