China’s Alibaba to raise US$4.5 billion through convertible bonds, repurchase shares

ALIBABA Group Holding said on Thursday (May 23) the Chinese e-commerce giant would sell convertible bonds to raise about US$4.5 billion and plans to use some of the proceeds to repurchase American Depositary Shares.

The company said it expects to give initial purchasers in the notes offering an option to purchase up to an additional US$500 million of notes.

The repurchase and future buybacks will be funded by the net proceeds of the notes offering and other cash on hand, it said.

The e-commerce giant’s Hong Kong-listed shares closed down 5.2 per cent after Bloomberg News first reported a potential bond offering earlier in the day. But its US-listed shares were marginally down in early trading. REUTERS