Linklaters advises on Meituan’s inaugural dual-currency offshore bond offering

Linklaters advised the joint lead managers on Meituan’s first-ever dual-currency offshore bond issuance, denominated in US dollar (Rule 144A and Regulation S) and offshore Renminbi (Regulation S). This transaction marks Meituan’s inaugural dim sum bond issuance and represents the largest offshore bond issuance of Meituan.

Meituan is a tech-driven retail company. Adhering to the “Retail +Technology” strategy, Meituan commits to its mission that “We help people eat better, live better”.

The offering has an aggregate principal amount equivalent to US$3bn, comprising three tranches of senior US dollar bonds totalling US$2bn with 5.5-, 7- and 10-year tenors, and two tranches of offshore RMB bonds totalling RMB7.08bn with 5- and 10-year tenors. The US dollar bonds are cleared through The Depository Trust Company (DTC) and the offshore RMB bonds are cleared through the Central Moneymarkets Unit (CMU). All tranches of bonds are listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The issuance attracted strong demand from a broad range of institutional investors across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America, including sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, asset management companies, banks and corporates, reflecting the international market’s confidence in Meituan’s credit profile.

The Linklaters team was led by capital markets partners Lipton Li and Min Fang, with support from Christian Felton while litigation, arbitration & investigations counsel Michael Lamson and US tax counsel Omer Harel provided specialist support.

Linklaters is committed to supporting clients in China’s rapidly developing new economy sectors, leveraging the firm’s seamless cross-jurisdictional and cross-practice offering. The firm’s recent track record of advising on landmark transactions includes advising on Alibaba’s US$3.2bn convertible bond offering.