China’s Tencent aims to raise US$1 billion equivalent in dim sum bonds

[SYDNEY] Chinese gaming and social media leader Tencent Holdings is aiming to raise the equivalent of US$1 billion in a three-tranche offshore yuan bond deal, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

The sources could not be identified as the information has had not yet been made public. Tencent did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

Tencent plans to issue five-, 10- and 30-year offshore yuan bonds, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters on Tuesday (Sep 16).

The dim sum bonds have initial price guidance of about 2.6 per cent for the 5-year tranche, 3 per cent for the 10-year and 3.6 per cent for the 30-year, the term sheet showed.

The sale is for investors based outside the US.

Tencent has, like its Internet giant peers, been spending big on AI, though capital expenditure has moderated recently. After spending 36.6 billion yuan (S$6.57 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2024 and 27.5 billion yuan in the first quarter, its capex fell to 19.1 billion yuan in the second quarter.

In August, the company told analysts that it planned to take a more measured approach going forward, with a view towards sustainable monetisation from its AI initiatives and to “spend smartly”.

Alibaba, a key rival, recently raised US$3.2 billion via the sale of a zero-coupon convertible bond which it said it wanted to use to fund international expansion and strengthen cloud computing.

The e-commerce giant said it planned to use nearly 80 per cent of the proceeds to expand data centres, upgrade technology and improve services to meet demand for cloud solutions. REUTERS