Direct lending: Uber takes short cut to loan investors

When ride-hailing app Uber decided that it wanted to raise $1.25 billion in early March, it thought it would take a different route. The firm last tapped the market in mid 2016 with a loan arranged by Morgan Stanley and Barclays. It raised $1.15 billion – slightly less than anticipated – at 400 basis points over Libor from the two banks plus Citi and Goldman Sachs.

This time Uber took things into its own hands. Retaining just Morgan Stanley and only as an adviser, the firm raised seven-year new money directly from the market using its own capital markets team.