BENGALURU/SYDNEY/HONG KONG (Nov 11): Google parent Alphabet is looking to raise about US$3 billion (RM12 billion) equivalent through its first bond sales in Hong Kong and Singapore dollars, two people with knowledge of the matter said, testing Asian investor demand after an artificial intelligence (AI)-led sell-off in global markets earlier this month.

One of the people added that the sales would likely raise at least US$2.2 billion, with Alphabet considering minimum sizes of HK$8 billion for the Hong Kong dollar portion and S$1.5 billion for the Singapore dollar portion.

The final size, timing and pricing have not been set, the person added.

The deal is expected to be launched as early as Thursday, with bookbuilding and pricing during Asian trading hours, according to the person. The bonds are expected to settle on Nov 19, the person added.

The people declined to be named as the matter is private.

Alphabet has mandated HSBC and JPMorgan as joint global coordinators, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters earlier on Wednesday. The bonds are expected to be rated Aa2 by Moody's and AA+ by S&P, the sheet showed.

Bank of China (Hong Kong), ICBC (Asia) and Standard Chartered are also working on the Hong Kong dollar sale, while DBS, OCBC and UOB are working on the Singapore dollar portion, the sheet showed.

The Hong Kong dollar bonds could have two-, five- and 10-year maturities, while the Singapore dollar bonds could have two-, five-, 10- and 30-year maturities, the sheet showed.

Alphabet did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

The sale would add to Alphabet's borrowing this year as it increases spending on data centres and other AI computing infrastructure.

Alphabet said in an Oct 29 filing that it had issued US$45 billion of US dollar-denominated notes and US$35.8 billion of foreign currency notes in the nine months to end-September for general corporate purposes.

Alphabet last week raised €6 billion through a euro-denominated bond sale. It also sold US$25 billion of US dollar bonds in August and A$5.5 billion Australian dollar bonds in the same month.

Other large technology companies have also tapped debt markets. Last week, Meta completed a US$15 billion US bond sale and Oracle sold US$10 billion of bonds.

Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee