---
title: "Bending Spoons closed $1.25 billion of junk notes at 9.625%, and Airtable's cash services them"
description: "The Milan roll-up settled $1.25 billion of dollar notes at 9.625% and €500 million of euro notes at 8.625%, both due 2032, issued at par, issued by subsidiaries with no parent guarantee. The acquired businesses' earnings must now service roughly $3.4 billion equivalent of new secured debt, and November 20's Q3 is the first check."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Deals"
published: 2026-11-06T16:11:32.215Z
modified: 2026-11-06T16:11:32.215Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/bending-spoons-closed-1-25-billion-of-junk-notes-at-9-625-and-airtable-s-cash-services-them
language: en
keywords: "Bending Spoons, High Yield Debt, Acquisitions, Evernote, Airtable, SaaS"
---

# Bending Spoons closed $1.25 billion of junk notes at 9.625%, and Airtable's cash services them

> The Milan roll-up settled $1.25 billion of dollar notes at 9.625% and €500 million of euro notes at 8.625%, both due 2032, issued at par, issued by subsidiaries with no parent guarantee. The acquired businesses' earnings must now service roughly $3.4 billion equivalent of new secured debt, and November 20's Q3 is the first check.

[Bending Spoons](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/bending-spoons) has closed the money for its next round of acquisitions, and the businesses it buys are the ones that have to carry it. The Milan roll-up, listed on Nasdaq since July, [priced an upsized dual-currency junk bond on October 28 and settled it this week](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/bending-spoons-announces-pricing-senior-180600512.html): $1.25 billion of dollar notes and €500 million of euro notes, both due 2032, both issued at par after demand pushed the deal past its $1.5 billion target [1][6].

The day after pricing, [Berkshire Hathaway](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/berkshire-hathaway) [closed a further $330 million of equity at $33 a share](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261029150554/en/Berkshire-Hathaway-completes-further-%24330-million-investment-in-Bending-Spoons), taking its stake to 4% after $600 million at the IPO [4]. Both camps are betting the same thing: that acquired software businesses, transformed quickly, produce enough cash to service money priced near junk levels.

The first public check comes on November 20, when Bending Spoons reports Q3 [5].

*Chart: **Bending Spoons layered roughly $3.4 billion equivalent of new secured debt in five weeks** Column chart showing the four new secured debt tranches in US dollar equivalents: the dollar notes at $1.25 billion, the dollar term loan B add-on at $1.25 billion, the euro notes at roughly $550 million and the euro term loan add-on at roughly $435 million.*

*Principal amounts of new senior secured debt raised between late September and early November 2026, in US dollar equivalents; euro tranches converted at the roughly $1.10 per euro implied by the offering's stated $1.25 billion plus €500 million equal to about $1.8 billion equivalent, so the converted bars are estimates. Combined equivalent roughly $3.4-3.5 billion. Sources: Bending Spoons pricing release [6], syndication release [7], Latham & Watkins [1]. [1][6][7]*

## The market paid up for the paper, and priced the risk

As reported here on November 5, [the deal came to market on a cash-timing claim that only a vendor case study backed](https://theinference.example/article/bending-spoons-markets-1-5-billion-of-bb-notes-on-a-cash-timing-claim-only-a-vendor-case-study-backs) [8]. It was marketed at a yield just above 10% in dollars and just above 9% in euros, [with a BB- rating expected, near the top of the below-investment-grade range, per Bloomberg](https://qz.com/bending-spoons-1-5-billion-notes-acquisitions-102726) [3].

Demand then did the talking: the coupons landed at 9.625% and 8.625%, the tranches priced at par, and the offering upsized [6]. Buyers of newly issued junk rarely get par on a debut; the terms say the market believes the servicing story at least for now. The rating says it is not certain.

## The structure tells you who is on the hook

The notes are issued by two subsidiaries, Bending Spoons US Inc. and Bending Spoons Operations S.p.A., [with no guarantee from the listed parent](https://www.milbank.com/en/news/milbank-advises-on-bending-spoons-dollar125b-senior-secured-notes-and-euro500m-senior-secured-notes.html) [2][6]. The 2032 creditors therefore live off the portfolio's cash flow, not the holding company's balance sheet [2][6].

The bridge between the two is the transformation playbook: Bending Spoons reorganizes teams, overhauls technology and uses AI as both the vision and the tool for expanding an acquired business's earnings [4]. The costs of that work land on the acquired companies' customers and teams first.

Our reporting on [Evernote](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/evernote), where [the top plan was raised 92% in the week the notes went to market](https://theinference.example/article/bending-spoons-raised-evernote-s-top-plan-92-to-250-in-the-week-it-took-1-5-billion-of-notes-to-market), shows how the playbook reaches users [9]. [Airtable](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/airtable), the no-code database closed in September as the first post-IPO deal, is next in line to be repriced or rebuilt into something that earns more.

## The machine needs debt to keep running

This fortnight added the notes plus $1.25 billion and €395 million of term loan B add-ons due 2031, [syndicated in late September to finance the Miro acquisition](https://markets.ft.com/data/announce/detail?dockey=600-202609251431BIZWIRE_USPRX____20260925_BW602537-1), roughly $3.4 billion equivalent of new secured debt in total [7]. The circularity is the point: borrowed cash buys the next deal, and the next deal's earnings must cover the last one's interest. Berkshire is exposed to the equity version of the same bet [4].

The bet rests on the transformations lifting acquired earnings fast enough to service the paper, and [November 20 is the first public test of that claim](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/11/06/3397470/0/en/bending-spoons-to-announce-q3-2026-results.html) [5].

If Q3 shows acquired-SaaS cash flow growing into the coupons, the model holds at this scale; if it does not, the next seller of a software business will find the machine moving slower.

## What would settle the argument

Watch three numbers in the Q3 print: revenue from businesses acquired this year, interest costs against them, and free cash flow after the transformation spending [5]. Anything less makes November 20 ceremony rather than a catalyst, and the burden falls back on the next deal to prove the machine works [5].

## Takeaway

Bending Spoons closed $1.25 billion of dollar notes at 9.625% and €500 million of euro notes at 8.625%, both at par and both issued by subsidiaries without a parent guarantee, taking new secured debt to roughly $3.4 billion equivalent; November 20's Q3 print is the first public test of whether acquired-business cash flow can service it.

## Sources

1. [Legal Desire, Latham & Watkins Advises Bending Spoons on Landmark Upsized US$1.8 Billion (Equivalent) Dual-Currency Senior Secured Notes Offerings, 6 November 2026](https://legaldesire.com/latham-watkins-advises-bending-spoons-on-landmark-upsized-us1-8-billion-equivalent-dual-currency-senior-secured-notes-offerings/)
2. [Milbank LLP, Milbank Advises on Bending Spoons' $1.25B Senior Secured Notes and €500M Senior Secured Notes, November 2026](https://www.milbank.com/en/news/milbank-advises-on-bending-spoons-dollar125b-senior-secured-notes-and-euro500m-senior-secured-notes.html)
3. [Quartz, Bending Spoons is proposing $1.5 billion in junk debt for acquisitions, 27 October 2026](https://qz.com/bending-spoons-1-5-billion-notes-acquisitions-102726)
4. [Business Wire, Berkshire Hathaway completes further $330 million investment in Bending Spoons, 29 October 2026](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261029150554/en/Berkshire-Hathaway-completes-further-%24330-million-investment-in-Bending-Spoons)
5. [GlobeNewswire, Bending Spoons to announce Q3 2026 results, 6 November 2026](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/11/06/3397470/0/en/bending-spoons-to-announce-q3-2026-results.html)
6. [Bending Spoons via GlobeNewswire/Yahoo Finance, Bending Spoons announces pricing of senior secured notes, 28 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/bending-spoons-announces-pricing-senior-180600512.html)
7. [Business Wire via FT Markets, Bending Spoons successfully syndicates upsized term loan B add-ons, 25 September 2026](https://markets.ft.com/data/announce/detail?dockey=600-202609251431BIZWIRE_USPRX____20260925_BW602537-1)
8. [The Inference, Bending Spoons markets $1.5 billion of BB notes on a cash-timing claim only a vendor case study backs, 5 November 2026](https://theinference.example/article/bending-spoons-markets-1-5-billion-of-bb-notes-on-a-cash-timing-claim-only-a-vendor-case-study-backs)
9. [The Inference, Bending Spoons raised Evernote's top plan 92% to $250 in the week it took $1.5 billion of notes to market, 28 October 2026](https://theinference.example/article/bending-spoons-raised-evernote-s-top-plan-92-to-250-in-the-week-it-took-1-5-billion-of-notes-to-market)


---

Bending Spoons closed $1.25 billion of junk notes at 9.625%, and Airtable's cash services them — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/bending-spoons-closed-1-25-billion-of-junk-notes-at-9-625-and-airtable-s-cash-services-them