eCommerce and gaming company Sea Ltd. hopes to raise $6.3 billion in the largest fundraising effort in Southeast Asia’s history, the second major fundraising effort in less than a year for the $185 billion firm, which is hoping to accelerate its global expansion efforts.
Sea’s $6.3 billion fundraising plan will come through the sale of shares and convertible bonds. The company, known for the Shopee eCommerce platform, plans to initially sell 11 million American Depository Receipts and up to 1.65 million more through a “greenshoe” option, according to a regulatory filing by the Singapore-headquartered company Thursday (Sept. 9).
The company also plans to raise $2.5 billion in a convertible bond with a $375 million greenshoe attached. That effort could generate $3.8 billion based on Sea’s closing stock price on Wednesday (Sept. 8), according to Reuters.
The total fundraising would set a new record for capital raised by a Southeast Asian company, according to Refinitiv data. Sea had about $7 billion in cash on its balance sheet to close out the first half of 2021, Aequitas Research director Sumeet Singh told Reuters, meaning the fundraising will put the company in the range of $13 billion.
Sea expects to use the influx of cash generated by its fundraising efforts for strategic investments and acquisitions, among other purposes. Shopee is looking to expand into Europe and India, and Sea has a digital bank license to operate in Singapore.
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Also read: eCommerce Aggregator Rainforest Raises $20M
Singapore-based eCommerce aggregation firm Rainforest recently raised $20 million in a pre-Series A round led by Monk’s Hill Ventures.
Rainforest now has more than $50 million, which it plans to use on acquiring third-party brands that sell on Amazon and other eCommerce sites. After raising $36.5 million in a seed round in May, Rainforest acquired six eCommerce brands, most of which are based in Asia.