(Jan 7): Kuaishou Technology is considering a maiden offshore bond sale, according to people familiar with the matter, joining a wave of Chinese technology companies tapping global debt markets.
Beijing-based Kuaishou, a key rival to ByteDance Ltd’s TikTok and Douyin in short-video streaming, has secured regulators’ permission to issue offshore bonds and is working with investment banks on the potential deal, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private talks.
Details of the offering, such as whether the bonds would be issued in dollars or offshore yuan, and the timing, aren’t final and could change, the people added.
Kuaishou, like other internet businesses, is aggressively pivoting toward artificial intelligence (AI) as a potential growth engine and has made strides into the field of AI-generated video.
The bond sale, if successful, would align Kuaishou with Chinese tech giants Baidu Inc, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, Tencent Holdings Ltd, and Meituan, which raised money in overseas debt markets last year. Many of those offerings were aimed at bolstering artificial intelligence capabilities, as Chinese tech leaders race to close gaps in AI development with US firms such as OpenAI.
Kuaishou declined to comment.
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The company’s stock price jumped by double digits on Monday, spurred on by data showing that its Kling AI platform is winning users in overseas markets. Shares of Kuaishou have surged more than 80% in Hong Kong over the past year, according to Bloomberg-compiled data.
Kuaishou’s chief technologist Gai Kun said in a recent interview that he next wants to build a content platform dedicated to AI-first video, and he sees only a narrow window of opportunity if Kuaishou wants to be the first to build it.
Also in the pipeline, Chinese semiconductor display manufacturer TCL Technology Group Corp is gauging investor appetite for a potential three-year offshore bond offering as early as this quarter.
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