TLDR:
HSBC has launched a $1 billion ASEAN Growth Fund and a $150 million venture debt offering in Singapore to support high-growth companies and digital platform businesses.
- HSBC launches $1 billion ASEAN Growth Fund and $150 million venture debt offering in Singapore.
- Venture debt is aimed at early-stage, high-growth companies with venture capital backing.
HSBC announced the $150 million venture debt offering in Singapore and a $1 billion growth fund for the ASEAN region to scale high-growth companies and digital platform businesses. The venture debt offering provides a longer-term and flexible financing solution to companies, supporting funding requirements such as capital expenditure, runway extension, and working capital for up to three years in tenor. Venture debt is not a replacement for equity but follows it, with loan sizes typically between 25% and 35% of the amount of equity raised.
The ASEAN Growth Fund covers six ASEAN markets – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The fund aims to support digital platform businesses such as e-commerce players. HSBC’s head of commercial banking for South and Southeast Asia expressed excitement about ASEAN’s digital economy potential, citing the digitally native and growing working population poised for increased consumption on e-commerce platforms.