Tencent Holdings Ltd., the creator of the messaging platform WeChat and its payment app, has raised $8.3 billion in the biggest offshore syndicated loan in Asia for a Chinese firm since 2016.
Twelve banks joined the Tencent financing deal, which initially had a $6 billion size, according to people familiar with the matter. The loan will be used for general corporate purposes, the people said, asking not to be identified as they aren’t authorized to speak publicly. Representatives for Tencent didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. IFR Asia earlier reported on the deal closing.
Tencent is fast evolving beyond a social media and gaming behemoth over the past decade and has poured billions of dollars snapping up stakes in promising startups, widening its reach in areas from social media to grocery delivery. It received a 1.3 billion euro ($1.6 billion) loan last month to back its purchase of more shares in Universal Music Group International Ltd.
The deal comes amid a flurry of debt financings by tech giants, with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. issuing $5 million of bonds in early February and Chinese Internet search engine giant Baidu Inc. seeding what would be potentially its largest syndicated loan.
WeChat is the payment and smartphone backbone underpinning Tencent’s transformation. Through the lite-app model it pioneered, the platform has become intrinsic to the daily lives of one billion Chinese for everything from booking rides to buying groceries. Its new TikTok-style video feed also boosted investor’s confidence that the app will stay relevant in China’s social media landscape.
While regulators have launched a probe into rival Alibaba Group Holding and demanded overhauls of the Ant Group Co. financial empire it backs, Beijing has yet to directly address Tencent’s online entertainment juggernaut in its combat against alleged monopolies on the Internet.
That helped Tencent’s stock soon recover after an initial sell-off in November, when China’s antitrust watchdog unveiled its new regulatory framework over the country’s internet sector. Tencent is now nearing the $1 trillion benchmark in market value, after gaining roughly $200 billion this year.
