Dell is getting set to sell US$16 billion (A$21 billion) or more of secured bonds as early as Tuesday in a bid to help fund its mammoth acquisition of storage company EMC. The yield on a 10-year bond is being offered at around 6.5 percent.

Dell is poised to become the latest tech company to pay above-market interest rates, after the disk-drive maker Western Digital and memory chip producer Micron Technology came up against a cautious audience for their bond offerings.

A $16 billion offering would be the largest since Anheuser-Busch InBev placed $46 billion of bonds in January and would be tied for the 10th-largest bond deal on record, according to Dealogic.