Bilibili offering raises $824 million as China techs tap market after IPOs – Reuters
What happened: Chinese video streaming platform Bilibili raised more than $824 million from a convertible bond sale and new share offering as it seeks to fund diversified content offerings. According to an SEC filing released Monday by the company, it initially looked to sell a $300 million seven-year convertible bond and around 17.1 million American depositary shares (ADS), which totaled around $300 million calculated on its closing price on Tuesday ($18.05). The offering’s size was increased because of “overwhelming demand” from investors, Reuters reported citing a banker involved in the deal as saying.
Why it’s important: Just two months earlier, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba acquired an 8% stake in Bilibili in an agreement between the two companies to commercialize content-driven e-commerce on both platforms. Despite recording a net loss of RMB 565 million (around $82.2 million) in 2018, Bilibili is one of the few companies to receive investments from both Alibaba and Tencent. The company plans to use most of the funds from this round to expand its content offerings via proprietary productions, licensing, and investment. Also among the handful of Chinese companies that have returned to the market for more funds following 2018 initial public offerings was Baidu-backed iQiyi, which could raise up to $1.2 billion in a convertible bond, one of the largest-ever such sales by a US-listed Chinese company.