source from: WSJ
BUSINESS  ASIA  ASIAN BUSINESS NEWS
Huawei Plans 2 Billion dollars Bond Offering
Chinese telecommunications giant’s 1 billion dollars  10-year offering last year was oversubscribed

By JURO OSAWA,  KANE WU and  JASPER MOISEIWITSCH
April 20, 2016 3:17 a.m. ET
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Huawei Technologies Co. plans to raise 2 billion dollars by selling a 10-year U.S. dollar-denominated bond, people familiar with the matter said, as it continues to expand its smartphone business.

The Chinese telecommunications giant, seeking to challenge Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. in the global smartphone market, has been boosting spending on research, marketing and sales.

Huawei is still discussing terms of the issue with banks, and the size of the deal could change, the people said. Banks likely to manage the bond issue include  DBS Bank, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, Standard Chartered Bank and Bank of China, the people said. The deal could be completed as early as this month, one of the people said.

In May 2015, Huawei issued a 1 billion dollars 10-year bond, according to the company. That offering was oversubscribed due to strong demand, according to bankers.

Among others of China’s biggest technology companies making debt deals recently are social-network company Tencent Holdings Ltd.—talking with banks about a syndicated loan of as much as 2 billion dollars, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal last week—and online shopping company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which last month said it had secured a 3 billion dollars syndicated loan.

Shenzhen-based Huawei, whose biggest business is supplying networking equipment such as routers and switches to telecom carriers, has been growing rapidly as a smartphone brand. Its global market share in the fourth quarter, 8.1%, trailed only Samsung’s 21% and Apple’s 19%, according to research firm IDC.

Earlier this month, Huawei said its net profit last year was up 32% to 36.9 billion yuan (5.7 billion dollars), while revenue was up 37% to 395 billion yuan. As of the end of 2015, its balance of cash and short-term investments amounted to about 19.4 billion dollars, according to its annual report. The company said its R&D investment last year jumped 46% to about 9.2 billion dollars.