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In August 2016, Microsoft Inc. sold $19.75 billion bonds to partially fund its acquisition of LinkedIn Corp ($26.2 billion). In January 2017, Microsoft Inc. issued another $17 billion in bonds (see the table below). Since most credit rating agencies rated Microsoft credit as AAA, bond interest managed to very favorable interest rates (the better the credit rating, the smaller interest rates the company could enjoy). Proceeds from the seven-part deal, were expected to be used for general corporate purposes, including stock buybacks and refinancing (the repayment of short-term debt used to help fund Microsofts acquisition of LinkedIn Corp).

Part	Billion	Interest	Due date	Maturity
1	1.5	1.85%	2020	3 years
2	1.75	2.40%	2022	5 years
3	2.25	2.875%	2024	7 years
4	4	3.30%	2027	10 years
5	2.5	4.10%	2037	20 years
6	3	4.25%	2047	30 years
7	2	4.50%	2057	40 years
Total 17 billion		Effective: 3.45%

What is the reason Microsoft issued bonds instead of borrowing money from the bank? If you did not make relevant notes, you may find this summary helpful

A. Bonds generally yield smaller interest rates
B. Bank loans are more restrictive as banks may set up covenants
C. Bond issuance enables corporations to attract a large number of lenders: banks, insurance companies, pension funds etc.
D. Company controls many options about bonds: maturity, ability to convert bonds into stocks
E. All of the above is correct.

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