(Reuters) -Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group is seeking to raise around HK$12 billion ($1.53 billion) through exchangeable bonds to boost investments in its cloud infrastructure and global commerce operations, the company said on Thursday.
Investors can later exchange these bonds, which link to Alibaba Health Technology, for shares in Alibaba Health, and the bonds will not pay interest over time.
Alibaba Group holds a stake of about 64% in Alibaba Health, according to an exchange filing.
The debt sale, if it goes through, follows Alibaba’s $5 billion dual-currency bond in November, which was the largest deal of its kind in Asia-Pacific during 2024.
Alibaba, best known for its e-commerce operations in China, has been accelerating its investments into AI, building standalone offerings around its Qwen AI models and growing its cloud services.
It has also announced infrastructure investments in Thailand, Mexico and South Korea.
The company’s bond offering plan comes as more investors tap the Asian credit market after monetary and fiscal stimulus by Beijing policymakers improved the region’s debt appeal.
Chinese tech firms have previously turned to exchangeable bonds to trim their holdings, such as when Baidu raised $2 billion in March through a sale of notes exchangeable into shares of Trip.com.
Alibaba said on Thursday it expects the Health unit to remain a flagship healthcare platform and consolidated subsidiary of Alibaba both upon the issuance and following any future exchange of bonds into Alibaba Health shares.
Chinese budget retailer Miniso completed a $550 million convertible bond deal in January, choosing to use its Hong Kong-listed shares instead of its U.S.-traded American Depositary Receipts (ADRs).
($1 = 7.8496 Hong Kong dollars)
(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Shailesh Kuber)
