SHENZHEN-BASED tech giant Tencent Holdings is in talks with banks to raise up to US$2 billion in new debt funding, Basis Point reported, citing three people familiar with the financing plans, amid a flurry of fundraising by China’s Internet giants.

    Tencent is looking to raise a bullet loan with a five-year maturity, Reuters quoted Basis Point, a Thomson Reuters publication, as saying yesterday.

    Citigroup was coordinating the financing, while at least six Chinese and foreign banks in Hong Kong planned to join.

    Tencent, best known for its WeChat mobile app, has been on an investment drive in a wide array of sectors such as gaming, entertainment, cloud computing and online financing as it vies with rivals Alibaba Group Holding and Baidu.

    Tencent raised US$7.94 billion in two syndicated loans in the past nine months, Basis Point said, including US$3.5 billion in October to back a deal for a majority stake in Finnish mobile game developer Supercell Oy. (SD-Agencies)