Alphabet sells yen bonds worth $3.6 billion, largest such issue by foreign company

TOKYO, May 15 (Reuters) - Alphabet has sold 576.5 billion yen ($3.6 billion) in yen-denominated bonds, a term sheet showed on Friday, the largest-ever issue by a foreign company.

It is the first yen-denominated debt issue for Alphabet, which like other tech giants is in the midst of a huge investment programme in artificial intelligence and has sought to diversify sources of funding.

The parent of Google has flagged capital expenditure of as much as $190 billion this year and has issued bonds in euros, sterling, Canadian dollars and Swiss francs.

Demand was strong among domestic and international investors, Mizuho Securities, one of the underwriters, said, adding that the sale beat the previous record of a 430 billion yen issuance by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK/A) in 2019.

The term sheet showed Alphabet would issue bonds maturing in 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 30 and 40 years, with coupons ranging from 1.965% to 4.599%.

Mizuho Securities, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley are acting as joint bookrunners on the transaction.

($1 = 158.4500 yen) (Reporting by Miho Uranaka; Writing by Anton Bridge)