Ken Griffin’s Citadel has raised $1bn through the sale of high-grade bonds on Wednesday to fund a payout to its owners, according to a report by Bloomberg UK.

The issuance was split into two tranches, according to an unnamed source. The longer tranche, a $500m seven-year bond, carries a yield 1.9% above Treasuries.

Investor demand was reportedly strong, with the transaction’s book size exceeding $10bn.

“The tremendous positive reception from investors reflects their strong conviction in our investment grade-rated hedge-fund management business,” said Matt Scully, a Citadel spokesperson, following the pricing of the deal. Moody’s Ratings assigns the firm a Baa2 rating, while S&P Global Ratings gives it a BBB grade.

This is not the first time Citadel has issued bonds. The firm previously sold $500m in bonds in both 2017 and 2019, also for the purpose of funding dividend payments. Headquartered in Miami, Citadel reported a gain of approximately 15% in its flagship strategy last year and managed around $65bn in investment capital as of 1 January.

The deal was led by Bank of America, Goldman Sachs Group, and Morgan Stanley, and was one of three US investment-grade bond offerings priced on Wednesday.