Tencent Music Entertainment Group attracted more than US$10 billion ($13.67 billion) of orders for its dual-tranche debut dollar bond, beating expectations for investment-grade offerings in Asia’s offshore credit market.
The firm’s five-year $300 million bond was more than 14 times oversubscribed, while its 10-year $500 million note drew over 11 times the deal size, according to people familiar with the matter, who are not authorized to speak publicly and asked not to be identified. That’s a contrast to the average of 4.5 times for comparable debt sold in Asia excluding Japan this year, according to issuance data compiled by Bloomberg where allocations were available.
American investors made up more than a third of the orders for the notes, the people said, underscoring strong global appetite as buyers hunt for yield and target companies resilient to the pandemic-induced economic slowdown. The Chinese online music entertainment platform’s parent is Tencent Holdings Ltd., the social media and gaming giant.
Tencent Music, which operates three services that collectively account for the majority of online music consumption in China, is considered a “high strategic subsidiary” of its parent, according to a Monday report by S&P Global Ratings which assigned the firm an A rating.
“The company’s contribution to user experience and time spent within Tencent’s ecosystem outweighs its direct financial contribution to the group,” S&P analysts including Xin Hui Zu noted.
A host of Chinese technology firms have taken advantage of lower borrowing costs in recent months after central banks offered unprecedented support to credit markets in the wake of the coronavirus. Offshore debt sales from this sector include offerings from Baidu Inc., Xiaomi Corp. and Tencent Holdings.
