Alibaba Eyes HK$12 B Bond Windfall to Supercharge Cloud and Global Commerce
Updated on
Published on
Alibaba is back in the debt market with a punchy HK$12 billion ($1.53 billion) exchangeable-bond offer that lets investors swap the notes for shares in majority-owned Alibaba Health. The zero-coupon structure keeps interest costs at nil while still unlocking about 64 % of the healthcare unit’s equity float to bankroll heavier bets on data-center horsepower and cross-border retail.
The raise lands eight months after Alibaba’s record-setting $5 billion dual-currency deal and dovetails with a spree of AI and cloud outlays, from Thailand to Mexico to South Korea. Management says the proceeds will plow straight into Qwen-powered cloud services and logistics corridors that shorten delivery times for its growing global store fronts.
Exchangeable bonds are having a moment across China tech: Baidu used a similar structure in March to slice its Trip.com stake, and budget retailer Miniso tapped the format in January. With Beijing’s stimulus nudging yields lower, Asia’s credit window looks friendlier than it has in years—giving Alibaba an opportunistic path to raise cheap capital while keeping core equity in-house.
