By Scott Murdoch
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Chinese electric vehicle maker Neo Inc said on Wednesday it plans to raise $1 billion in two tranches of convertible bonds to pay down debt and strengthen its balance sheet.
The company raised $500 million in six-year put-four convertible bonds and the same amount in seven-year put-five bonds.
The bonds will be senior, unsecured notes. Neo’s short-term bond, reported in a Hong Kong stock exchange announcement, has an interest rate of 3.875%, while the seven-year bond rate is 4.625%.
“The company plans to use a portion of the net proceeds from the note offering to purchase a portion of its existing debt securities … and the remainder to further strengthen its balance sheet position and for general corporate purposes,” he said.
Neo said in late August that it plans to launch its first self-developed mobile phone this month to upgrade its cars with better software and connectivity.
Neo posted a net loss of 6.12 billion yuan ($839.51 million) in the second quarter, compared with a loss of 2.75 billion yuan in the same period a year ago.
(Reporting by Scott Murdoch in Sydney; Editing by Michael Perry)
