Singapore-based tech startup Sea Group is planning to raise up to $2.6bn by selling new securities in the US market.
The company said that it plans to sell 11 million American Depositary Shares (ADS), with the option to sell an additional 1.65 million shares.
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The move comes a week after the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country’s central bank, provided digital banking licences to four applicants.
Sea Group was one of the firms that won a digital full bank licence. The licence was also awarded to a Grab-Singtel consortium, China’s Alibaba-backed Ant Group, and to a coalition of three firms.
The MAS requires digital full banks to have at least S$1.5bn ($1.1bn) in total capital, with S$15m at entry.
Sea Group said that it will use the capital proceeds “for business expansion and other general corporate purposes, including potential strategic investments and acquisitions.”
It aims to foray into the retail banking space and compete with traditional lenders including DBS Bank, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), and United Overseas Bank (UOB).
Founded in 2009, Sea Group, which is currently valued at $55bn, is a basically a gaming company that expanded into e-commerce and digital payments domain.
It has a presence in Southeast Asian countries including Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia.
