Food-delivery firm Meituan aims to raise US$1 billion in bond sale

CHINESE food-delivery giant Meituan is seeking to raise the equivalent of about US$1 billion through its offshore yuan bond offering, according to people familiar with the matter, as it joins a growing wave of issuers tapping the dim sum debt market.

The company has obtained approval from Chinese regulators to raise a larger amount offshore, but decided to preserve part of the quota for dollar bond refinancing when market conditions are favourable, Meituan representatives told investors during a call on Monday, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private matters. The quota is set to expire next September, they added.

The dim sum bond offering is expected to be priced on Tuesday, the people said. 

Meituan is raising the debt as competition has eased in China’s food delivery and retail business following a crackdown by authorities, taking some pressure off the sector’s big players. The firm reported a surprise quarterly profit in August, and has also slowed its overseas expansion.

Proceeds from the sale, which is the company’s second-ever dim sum bond offering, will be used mainly to refinance offshore yuan-denominated loans, the people said.

Meituan raised about US$3 billion from a sale of dollar securities and offshore yuan notes last year in its largest regular bond issuance ever. It expects capital expenditure to reach to around 20 billion yuan (US$3 billion) in 2026 and increase modestly in 2027, according to the people.

Meituan didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Yuan financing has become increasingly appealing to both Chinese and foreign firms for its lower costs.

Government and corporate issuers have sold over 1 trillion yuan of dim sum notes outside mainland China this year, an all-time high, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Earlier this month, Tencent Holdings raised 26 billion yuan of such notes, surpassing its dollar tranche in a single offering for the first time.

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Like its Chinese tech peers, Meituan has developed its own large language models for artificial intelligence, called the LongCat series. But the company isn’t updating its AI offerings as fast as rivals such as Alibaba Group Holding or ByteDance. BLOOMBERG