E-commerce and gaming company Sea Ltd is looking at raising $6.3 billion in a share and convertible bond sale that could turn out to be Southeast Asia’s largest ever capital fundraiser.
The move would be the second major fundraiser in less than a year for the $185 billion company, which is seeking to scale up its global expansion by testing out possible new markets.
Sea, known for its Shopee e-commerce platform, is eyeing selling 11 million American Depository Receipts and could offer 1.65 million more as part of a so-called greenshoe option, the Singapore-headquartered company said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.
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It is also raising $2.5 billion in a convertible bond that has a $375 million greenshoe attached. At Sea’s closing stock price of $343.80 in New York on Wednesday, the share sale could raise up to $3.8 billion.
The combined deal would be the largest ever capital-raiser for a Southeast Asian company, according to Refinitiv data.
Sea is “not really burning through cash,” Aequitas Research director Sumeet Singh said, adding the latest raising “looks opportunistic rather than something that the company needs.”
Given Sea had nearly $7 billion of cash on its balance sheet at the end of the first half of this year, this deal will bolster that to nearly $13 billion, according to Singh, who publishes on Smartkarma.
Sea, the biggest among all Southeast Asian companies by market value, says it plans to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including strategic investments and acquisitions.
DIGITAL BANKING
Sea’s Shopee is planning to expand into Europe and India, and late last year, Sea also secured a full digital bank licence in Singapore.
Fintech and e-commerce companies in Southeast Asia have been raising hefty amounts of capital as global investors bet on post-pandemic technology plays emerging in the region.
Sea Shares have risen 72.7% this year, after an almost five-fold jump in 2020 amid strong demand as Covid-19-related restrictions forced people indoors.
So far in 2021, companies have raised a total of $15.67 billion in equity capital markets in Southeast Asia – the most in three years, Refinitiv data shows – versus $11.8 billion over the corresponding period in 2020.
Among other deals, Southeast Asia’s biggest ride-hailing and delivery firm Grab raised over $4 billion this year as part of its nearly $40 billion record valuation in a SPAC deal, while sources say Indonesia’s biggest tech group Goto is set to complete a pre-IPO funding exercise this year.
- Reuters and Sean O’Meara
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This story was updated with a new headline.
