By Yantoultra Ngui and Nikita Maria Jino
Nov 12 (Reuters) – Google parent Alphabet’s first Hong Kong and Singapore dollar bond sales drew combined orders of more than $7 billion Thursday, including orders from banks arranging the deals, according to updated deal statistics seen by Reuters.
Alphabet had targeted $3 billion from the combined Hong Kong and Singapore dollar bond sales, Reuters reported on Wednesday. It was considering minimum sizes of HK$8 billion for the Hong Kong dollar portion and S$1.5 billion for the Singapore dollar portion.
The strong order books give Alphabet flexibility to increase its planned financing as it accelerates investment in AI infrastructure, even as recent volatility in technology shares has made investors more selective.
Orders for the three-part Hong Kong dollar offering exceeded HK$32.5 billion ($4.1 billion), up from more than HK$24 billion earlier in the day. The book includes HK$13.23 billion from joint lead managers.
Orders for the four-part Singapore dollar offering exceeded S$4 billion ($3.1 billion), including S$965 million of interest from joint lead managers, up from more than S$2.5 billion earlier in the day.
Alphabet set final price guidance for its Hong Kong dollar tranches at 4.35% for the 2028 tranche, 4.70% for the 2031 tranche and 5.20% for the 2036 tranche. The final levels were tighter than initial guidance of 4.60%, 5.00% and 5.50%, respectively.
It set final price guidance for its Singapore dollar tranches at 2.50% for the 2028 tranche, 3.00% for the 2031 tranche, 3.40% for the 2036 tranche and 3.80% for the 2056 tranche. The final levels were tighter than initial guidance of 2.75%, 3.25%, 3.65% and 4.00%, respectively.
HSBC and JPMorgan are joint global coordinators. For the Hong Kong dollar bonds, Bank of China (Hong Kong), ICBC, and Standard Chartered are arranging the sale. DBS, OCBC, and United Overseas Bank will arrange the Singapore dollar bond sale.
The bonds, which are due to settle on November 19 and are expected to be rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA+ by S&P, would help expand and diversify Alphabet’s geographic debt footprint.
Alphabet last week raised €6 billion ($6.7 billion) through a euro-denominated bond sale. It also sold $25 billion of US dollar bonds in August and A$5.5 billion ($3.8 billion) of Australian dollar bonds in the same month.
($1 = 7.8441 Hong Kong dollars)
($1 = 1.2848 Singapore dollars)
(Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui in Hong Kong and Nikita Maria Jino in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Kate Mayberry, Toby Chopra)
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