Think the banks aren’t lending? Think again. They might not be keen on lending to you and me to fund our online enterprises and to other small businesses, but there appears to be plenty of loose cash floating around in the world’s economy for big business. According to the Wall Street Journal, Alibaba just raised a mind boggling $8 billion loan.
The loan amounts are a $2.5 billion three year loan, a $4 billion five year loan and a $1.5 billion three year revolving credit facility. There are nine banks involved in the finance package – Credit Suisse Group, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, DBS Group Holdings, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Australia &New Zealand Banking Group, HSBC Holdings and Mizuho Corporate Bank.
The loans are to refinance existing $4 billion debt under more favorable terms, as well as to raise fresh capital. Details of the loan emerged just a day after it announced an agreement to buy 18% stake in Sina Weibo, China’s popular twitter-style micro-blogging site.
It’s likely that the banks are providing finance in the hope of winning big when Alibaba floats on the stock exchange it what could possibly make Alibaba China’s first $100 billion listed company.
If the banks aren’t lending to you, maybe you just aren’t asking for a big enough loan!
One Response
Alibaba was really good till a year ago when they suddenly tried to automate things and cut on work force. Customer service is near to none. As a buyer if you have problem you are stuck. Even becoming VIP doesn’t help you there. Their forums are full of customers who got ripped of and no support off Alibaba. So only way to recover your money is calling your credit card company. It is also really weird to see a company suddenly droppingtheir customer service while they are trying to expand