Gelezen op ft en zero hedge, lijkt mij goed nieuws:
Apple is preparing the groundwork for another blockbuster debt sale in the region of $17bn that could rank as the second-largest corporate bond sale of all time.
Apple plans to use proceeds from the debt sale to fund the buyback rather than tap its $150bn cash pile. About $130bn of that cash is held overseas, 88 per cent of the total, and returning it to the US would lead to a tax charge of up to 35 per cent.
The goods news for Apple is that unlike IBM, whose debt/capital ratio soared to the highest ever following its surge in debt-funded buybacks, it still has a lot of balance sheet capacity before it has to be worried about a debt downgrade to fund its returns to shareholders. The bad news, is that unless the company finds a way to boost domestic cashflow, or somehow put the offshore cash to good use, it won't be too long before Apple too, has no choice but to do what every other company is doing in the absence of top-line growth: issue record amounts of debt just to keep shareholders happy.
Needless to say, this strategy works as long as rates are low, but once rates start rising, it stops working.