Tencent-backed Sea raises US$1.35b in share sale

[SINGAPORE] Sea Ltd, operator of Southeast Asia's biggest gaming platform, has raised US$1.35 billion after increasing the size of a follow-on stock offering.

The Singapore-based internet company sold 60 million American depositary shares at US$22.50 apiece, or about a 6.5 discount to its last close in New York. An affiliate of Tencent Holdings as well as a separate firm linked to one of Sea's directors are expected to buy 6.3 million of those shares at those terms, Sea said in a statement.

Sea is adding to the US$14.2 billion Asian-Pacific firms have raised through equity offerings in the US over the past 12 months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Chinese e-commerce operator Pinduoduo priced a US$1.6 billion follow-on offering in February after raising a similar amount in a July initial public offering, the data show.

Sea, which counts WeChat operator Tencent as a major shareholder, initially envisioned a sale of 50 million shares. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are acting as joint bookrunners for the offer, which is expected to close on March 8.

BLOOMBERG