SAN FRANCISCO - Elon Musk’s team has been exploring using as much as US$3 billion (S$3.94 billion) in potential new fundraising to help repay some of the US$13 billion in debt tacked onto Twitter Inc for his buyout of the company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

According to the report, Musk’s representatives discussed selling up to US$3 billion in new Twitter shares in December.

Twitter and Elon Musk did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

The Tesla boss borrowed US$13 billion to close the Twitter acquisition in October from a syndicate of banks including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp .

Musk’s team has said to people familiar with the finances of the company that an equity raise, if successful, could be used to pay down an unsecured portion of the debt that carries the highest interest rate within the US$13 billion Twitter loan package, the report added. REUTERS