By Scott Murdoch
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) Group Holding Ltd on Thursday set in motion its $5 billion U.S. dollar bond deal by announcing the initial price guidance in a marketing term sheet reviewed by Reuters.
Alibaba flagged a price range of 130 basis points over U.S. 10-year Treasuries for the 10-year tranche and 140 basis points over U.S. 20-year Treasuries for the 20-year tranche.
It is selling the debt in four tranches which also includes 30 and 40-year bonds, the term sheet showed.
Investor response to the deal will test sentiment towards Alibaba founder Jack Ma's business empire amid regulatory scrutiny triggered by a speech in late October that publicly criticised the country's regulatory system.
That set off a chain of events that resulted in the halting of affiliate Ant Group's $37 billion stock market listing.
A final price for the bonds is expected to be set later on Thursday, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter who is not authorised to speak to the media.