July 3 (Reuters) - Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group ( BABA )

is seeking to raise around HK$12 billion ($1.53

billion) through exchangeable bonds to boost investments in its

cloud infrastructure and global commerce operations, the company

said on Thursday.

Investors can later exchange these bonds, which link to

Alibaba Health Technology, for shares in Alibaba

Health, and the bonds will not pay interest over time.

Alibaba Group ( BABA ) holds a stake of about 64% in Alibaba Health,

according to an exchange filing.

The debt sale, if it goes through, follows Alibaba's ( BABA ) $5

billion dual-currency bond in November, which was the largest

deal of its kind in Asia-Pacific during 2024.

Alibaba ( BABA ), best known for its e-commerce operations in China,

has been accelerating its investments into AI, building

standalone offerings around its Qwen AI models and growing its

cloud services.

It has also announced infrastructure investments in

Thailand, Mexico and South Korea.

The company's bond offering plan comes as more investors tap

the Asian credit market after monetary and fiscal stimulus by

Beijing policymakers improved the region's debt appeal.

Chinese tech firms have previously turned to exchangeable

bonds to trim their holdings, such as when Baidu ( BIDU )

raised $2 billion in March through a sale of notes exchangeable

into shares of Trip.com.

Alibaba ( BABA ) said on Thursday it expects the Health unit to

remain a flagship healthcare platform and consolidated

subsidiary of Alibaba ( BABA ) both upon the issuance and following any

future exchange of bonds into Alibaba Health shares.

Chinese budget retailer Miniso ( MNSO ) completed a $550

million convertible bond deal in January, choosing to use its

Hong Kong-listed shares instead of its U.S.-traded American

Depositary Receipts (ADRs).

($1 = 7.8496 Hong Kong dollars)