Mainland internet giant Tencent has completed its sale of US$600 million worth of five-year US dollar-denominated bonds, the company's first international debt offering.
Shenzhen-based Tencent - which operates popular web portals that provide online games, social networking, instant messaging and other services - expected net proceeds to reach US$592.44 million after deducting underwriting fees and other expenses.
In a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday, the company said the bonds due in 2016 were not secured by any of its assets.
These senior unsecured notes bear an interest rate per year of 4.625 per cent and are listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading.
The bonds, which Tencent described as the first international debt issue by an Asian internet company, started trading yesterday.
Tencent president Martin Lau Chi-ping said the successful pricing of the notes showed that 'investors have responded favourably to our business model, financial policy and financial profile'.
US and Asian investors each accounted for 45 per cent of the allotments, while Europe made up the rest, according to a report by Thomson Reuters publication International Financing Review.