Alibaba to offer $4.5 billion in convertible debt to help pay for share buybacks

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. BABA, -0.56% shares in the U.S. went up 0.1% in morning trading on Friday after the Chinese e-commerce giant said it would sell $4.5 billion in convertible debt to help pay for taking back shares. This week, the stock was still down 6.5%, which would be the worst week for the stock in nine months. The company said that the money it got from selling convertible notes due 2031 would be used to buy back its American depositary shares and pay for other buybacks of shares. Qualified institutional investors will be able to buy the notes, which can be changed into cash, ADS, or a mix of the two. The amount being offered is equal to 2.2% of Alibaba’s current market value of $200.9 billion. So far this year, the stock has gone up 6.8%, while the iShares MSCI China ETF MCHI, -0.92% has gone up 12.1% and the S&P 500 SPX, -0.01% has gone up 11.6%.