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Shanghai / Bloomberg
Tencent Holdings Ltd., Asia’s biggest Internet company, is increasing the size of a syndicated loan to $4.4 billion, people familiar with the matter said.
The operator of the WeChat and QQ instant message systems now has commitments from 25 lenders to the facility, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the details are private.
The firm was likely to raise as much as $4 billion with the loan, separate people familiar with the matter had said last month. The company hired banks in April for a loan of $1.5 billion, people said at the time.
The move comes after Baidu Inc., owner of China’s biggest search engine, doubled the size of a five-year loan to $2 billion, people familiar with the matter said last week. China’s Internet giants have been tapping demand for “new economy†investments and raising more funds in debt markets, with the nation’s biggest e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. getting a $4 billion loan earlier this year.