Sources with knowledge of the matter have disclosed that the $40 billion bridge loan arranged by SoftBank Group Corp to fund its investment in US tech giant OpenAI has now entered a broad syndication phase, with 21 new financial institutions joining the lending group.

The individuals, who requested anonymity as the details are not public, stated that these new participants are additional investors beyond the original lending syndicate, collectively taking on approximately $7 billion of the loan. Among them, Abu Dhabi First Bank, Singapore's Global Industry Company (GIC), and Standard Chartered Bank each committed nearly $1 billion. The remaining allocation was distributed among several banks from Europe, Japan, and Taiwan, China.

The count of 21 new institutions is based on their parent companies, as some entities have multiple branches participating in this loan project.

According to the sources, the remaining $33 billion of the bridge loan is held by the lead underwriters and core senior lenders, with potential for further syndication in the future. In credit transactions, it is standard industry practice for initial underwriters to distribute portions of the loan to other financial institutions.

This 12-month loan, finalized in March, is one of the largest bridge financing projects in Asia-Pacific history. The underwriters stand to earn over $100 million in fees from the deal. Despite concerns from some banks regarding SoftBank's exposure risk to OpenAI, which faces increasing competition from rivals like Anthropic, the loan attracted nine banks before its full syndication opened in May.

SoftBank, Abu Dhabi First Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, and Global Industry Company (GIC) have all declined to comment on the matter.