ByteDance secures $29.6 billion loan led by ICBC and HSBC

ByteDance Ltd., the parent of TikTok, closed a $29.6 billion loan agreement with a syndicate of 28 banks, marking one of Asia’s largest dollar-denominated financings this year. The loan runs for three years and can be stretched to five, with Chinese lenders supplying roughly 64% of the total, including $3 billion from ICBC, $2.5 billion from Bank of China and $1.5 billion from China Construction Bank. HSBC led the foreign-bank participation with a $1.5 billion commitment.

The facility offers a margin of 68 basis points over the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, considerably lower than SoftBank’s recent $40 billion bridge loan. ByteDance plans to use the funds for general corporate purposes and to accelerate its artificial-intelligence initiatives.