Alphabet Convertibles Could Yield 6%, But Will Offer No Downside Protection

Alphabet will appeal to yield-oriented investors with the $15 billion of mandatory convertible preferred stock that it plans to sell as part of its plan to raise $80 billion of equity to fund its huge AI capital spending program. The Alphabet convertible preferred offering, one of several equity deals announced late Monday by the company, is expected to be priced later Tuesday after the close of trading at $50 a share with a dividend yield about 6.5%, in line with the dividend on an Oracle mandatory convertible sold in February. It will amount to a twin offering with $7.5 billion of preferred convertible into Alphabet’s class A voting shares and the other $7.5 billion of preferred exchangeable into the company’s nonvoting class C stock.