Alibaba Group recently completed a private offering of HKD12 billion (USD1.53 billion) worth of zero-coupon exchangeable bonds with Simpson Thacher, Fangda Partners, Jingtian & Gongcheng and Linklaters advising.
This follows another large-scale debt sale in November last year, in which Alibaba issued USD5 billion in dual-currency bonds.
The zero-coupon exchangeable bonds will mature on 9 July 2032, and holders may choose to convert them into shares of Alibaba Health. The funds raised will be used for general corporate purposes, and to support its cloud infrastructure and international business operations.
Simpson Thacher acted for Alibaba, with its cross-regional team including: Hong Kong-based partners Daniel Fertig, Christopher Wong and senior counsel Shen Chenjing; US-based partners Roxane Reardon, Marc Langer, Jonathan Cantor, Jonathan Lindabury and senior counsel Matt Hart; as well as London-based partner Lucy Gillett.
The US firm’s team advised on cross-border capital markets, derivatives and US tax compliance.
Fangda partners Jeffrey Ding and Travis Xu led the team, acting as Alibaba’s PRC legal counsel.
Jingtian & Gongcheng counselled the underwriters on PRC law, while Linklaters acted as the underwriters’ international legal counsel.
The Linklaters team was led by special senior adviser Oliver Zhong, partners Ki Taiki, Fang Min, Stephen Song and Christine Xu, as well as counsel Christian Felton and Tang Jun.
“This transaction continues the recent trend of sizeable equity-linked activity in the Asia Pacific region, reflecting sustained market interest in recent months,” Linklaters said.
