FILE PHOTO: A Tencent sign is seen during the fourth World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, China, Dec. 4, 2017. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
April 4, 2019
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Chinese social media and gaming giant Tencent Holdings Ltd said on Thursday it has raised $6 billion in a bond sale, with proceeds earmarked for refinancing and general corporate purposes.
The sale was Asia’s largest this year, Refinitiv data showed, exceeding property developer China Evergrande Group’s $2.8 billion issue in January.
Tencent sold $2 billion in fixed and floating rate five-year notes, $500 million in seven-year notes, $3 billion in 10-year notes and $500 million in 30-year notes, it said in a filing to Hong Kong’s stock exchange.
The bonds will carry coupons of 3.280 percent, 3.575 percent, 3.975 percent and 4.525 percent on the fixed rate five-year notes, seven-year notes, 10-year notes and 30-year notes, respectively.
The floating rate five-year note will have an interest rate of LIBOR plus 0.910 percent.
The tech firm earlier this week said its board had increased its Global Medium Term Note Programme limit to $20 billion from $10 billion, with proceeds going towards general corporate purposes.
Tencent had a $6 billion offshore issuance quota from China’s state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), two people with knowledge of the deal said on Tuesday.
Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were joint global coordinators for the sale, Tencent said in an earlier filing.
Tencent suffered a rough 2018, as China’s gaming regulator’s nine-month hiatus in approving games for monetization prevented the firm from capitalizing on some of its most popular titles.
Net profit for the last quarter of 2018 fell the most since the firm went public in 2004, by 32 percent, in part due to one-off losses at portfolio companies.
(Reporting by Donny Kwok and Julia Fioretti; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
