Internet titan Tencent announced plans to launch the next offering under a US$5 billion medium-term note programme, roughly 10 months after it made the largest offshore debt deal by an Asian technology company.
Pony Ma Huateng, chairman and chief executive of Tencent, said in a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange late on Monday that the notes will be offered in the United States to qualified institutional investors.
Deutsche Bank, Barclays and Goldman Sachs have been hired as the joint global coordinators of the proposed notes issue, the amount of which the company has not provided.
“The company intends to use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes,” Ma said.
Ricky Lai, an analyst at Guotai Junan International, said he expected Tencent to use the new funds to continue with its strategic acquisitions on the mainland and in international markets amid growing competition with New York-listed Alibaba Group Holdings.
Shenzhen-based Tencent last April conducted a US$2.5 billion bond sale under the medium-term note programme it established earlier in the same month. The issue was set up in two tranches: US$2 billion due on May 2019 and US$500 million due on May 2017.Following the sale, Standard & Poor’s assigned its “A” long-term issue credit rating to the US$2.5 billion notes offering.