Alphabet eyes about $3 billion in first Hong Kong and Singapore dollar bond sales

Google parent Alphabet is looking to raise about $3 billion equivalent through its first bond sales in Hong Kong and Singapore dollars, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on November 11. The Hong Kong dollar portion would be at least HK$8 billion (about $1 billion) and the Singapore dollar portion at least S$1.5 billion (about $1.2 billion); one of the people said the sales would likely raise at least $2.2 billion in total, with launch expected as early as Thursday (November 12) and settlement on November 19.

HSBC and JPMorgan are joint global coordinators

Alphabet has mandated HSBC and JPMorgan as joint global coordinators, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters. Bank of China (Hong Kong), ICBC (Asia) and Standard Chartered are also working on the Hong Kong dollar sale, while DBS, OCBC and UOB are working on the Singapore dollar portion. The bonds are expected to be rated Aa2 by Moody's and AA+ by S&P; the Hong Kong dollar bonds could have two-, five- and 10-year maturities, while the Singapore dollar bonds could also run to 30 years. The final size, timing and pricing have not been set, and Alphabet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Funding AI infrastructure after more than $80 billion of borrowing this year

Alphabet has been borrowing heavily this year to fund data centres and other AI computing infrastructure. In an October 29 filing it said it had issued $45 billion of U.S. dollar-denominated notes and $35.8 billion of foreign currency notes in the nine months to end-September; last week it raised 6 billion euros through a euro-denominated sale, and in August it sold $25 billion of U.S. dollar bonds and A$5.5 billion of Australian dollar bonds. Peers have tapped debt markets too: Meta completed a $15 billion U.S. bond sale last week and Oracle sold $10 billion of bonds. Source: Reuters.