Baidu Inc sold US$1 billion of bonds in a two-part sustainable deal, according to people familiar with the matter, marking the first major global debt offering by a Chinese tech firm since Beijing escalated a crackdown on private enterprise.

The Internet search giant, an investment-grade issuer, priced 5.5-year and 10-year notes at 83 basis points and 113 basis points, respectively, above comparable Treasuries, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because they are not authorised to speak about it publicly.

Spreads on the 5.5-year bond tightened as much as seven basis points on the secondary market on Thursday, according to credit traders, while the 10-year note widened by about three basis points amid broader market pressure in the longer end of the curve.

The deal is the investment-grade issuer’s first US dollar bond of this year, with the US$1.95 billion of such notes sold in 2020 offering much bigger premiums.

-Bloomberg