Alibaba raises $8b in first bond offer

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd sold $8 billion in bonds at yields lower than what was originally offered after investors placed orders of at least $57 billion to the e-commerce behemoth, according to Bloomberg.

The Hangzhou-based company raised a record $25 billion in its initial public offering in September, and has seen its share price rise nearly 76 percent since the debut on the New York Exchange.

According to Bloomberg, an unnamed source close to the offering said the banks underwriting lowered the premium by as much as 0.27 percentage point on its longest-dated bond.

Alibaba is expanding its operation globally. This is the first year that company chose to launch its Singles' Day campaign on its overseas platforms.

Customers from 217 countries and regions outside the Chinese mainland joined the shopping spree, with China's Hong Kong region, the United States and Russia claiming the top three overseas buyer areas.

Online sales on Alibaba's Tmall.com, Taobao.com and its overseas outlets, such as AliExpress, topped 57.1 billion yuan ($9.34 billion) on Nov 11, beating Tmall and Taobao's combined 2013 Singles' Day sales of 36.2 billion yuan.