Chinese multinational technology conglomerate holding company Tencent Holdings has raised $8.3 billion in the biggest offshore syndicated loan in Asia for a Chinese firm since 2016.
According to people familiar with the matter, twelve banks joined the Tencent financing deal, which initially had a size of $6 billion, and the obtained loan will be used for general corporate purposes.
Tencent did not respond to requests for comment immediately. Over the past decade, the company has evolved rapidly beyond a social media and gaming behemoth and has spent billions of dollars snapping up stakes in promising start-ups, expanding its reach from social media to grocery delivery. Last month, it had received a $1.6 billion loan to back its purchase of more Universal Music Group International shares.
The deal comes amid a flurry of debt financings by tech giants, with Alibaba Group issuing $5 billion of bonds in early February and Chinese internet search engine giant Baidu seeking what would be potentially its largest syndicated loan.
According to Bloomberg data, the new loan is the largest syndicated foreign currency deal for a Chinese company in Asia since 2016, when China National Chemical raised $12 billion.
According to the reports, while regulators have launched an investigation into rival Alibaba and requested overhauls of the Ant Group financial empire it backs, Beijing has yet to directly approach Tencent’s online entertainment juggernaut in its fight against suspected internet monopolies. That helped the tech company’s stock soon recover after an initial sell-off in November when China’s anti-trust watchdog announced its new regulatory framework over the country’s internet sector.
The Chinese company is now nearing the $1 trillion benchmark in market value after obtaining roughly $200 billion this year.
