Singapore-based tech giant Sea Group (NYSE:SE) on Thursday announced that it will raise up to USD 2.6 billion by selling new securities in the US market. The firm plans to offer 11 million American Depositary Shares (ADS), while it also intends to sell additional 1.65 million shares, which could help raise USD 2.2 billion or USD 2.6 billion with the additional shares, at Wednesday’s closing price.
Sea Group said it will use the proceeds “for business expansion and other general corporate purposes, including potential strategic investments and acquisitions.” The stock traded down 3.52% to USD 195.55 in after hours.
The news comes a few days after the company secured a digital bank license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) last Friday. With that, Sea Group aims to tap into the retail banking sector in the city-state which has long been dominated by traditional players including DBS Bank, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), and United Overseas Bank (UOB). With its three existing platforms Shopee, Garena, and SeaMoney, the company is targeting young consumers and SMEs.
Founded in 2009 in Singapore, Sea Group’s valuation has jumped eightfold to USD 55 billion since going public on the New York bourse in 2017. Although its businesses have sprawled across much of Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia, a region that is poised to triple the size of its digital economy by 2025, according to a report published by Google, Temasek, and Bain, its net loss in the third quarter widened to USD 425 million from USD 206 million in the same period last year.