Simpson Thacher Represents Initial Purchasers in the $600 Million Senior Notes Offering by Tencent Holdings Limited
The Firm recently represented the initial purchasers, led by Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C., Deutsche Bank AG, Singapore Branch, Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Limited and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, in the offer and sale of $600 million of 4.625% Senior Notes due 2016 of Tencent Holdings Limited, a Cayman Islands company, pursuant to Rule 144A and Regulation S. The notes were rated BBB+ by S&P and Baa1 by Moody’s.
Tencent is a leading integrated Internet services company in the People’s Republic of China, offering internet value-added services, mobile and telecommunications value-added services, online advertising and other services including e-commerce. This is Tencent’s inaugural debt offering. Tencent intends to use the proceeds of the offering of the notes for general corporate purposes.
This was the first debt offering by an Internet services company in the People’s Republic of China and was also the first time an Asian Internet services company has obtained public ratings from S&P and Moody’s.
The Simpson Thacher team for this transaction included Leiming Chen, Xiaohui Lin and Tianyi Chen (Capital Markets); Adam Wells (Tax); and Jennie Getsin (Blue Sky).