India?s largest private sector bank, ICICI Bank, plans to raise 100 million Australian dollars from its Bahrain branch under its $5-billion medium-term note programme, Bloomberg and two ratings agencies reported. Standard and Poor?s on Thursday assigned BBB- and Baa2, respectively, to the Australian dollar-denominated issue.
The bonds will have a maturity of five years and will be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
Also see: Financial Express: India’s Best Banks
Bloomberg reported that ANZ Bank and HSBC Bank are the lead managers of the issue and the spread is 250 basis points over the Mid-swaps. Mid-swap is the price calculated as the midpoint between the bid and offer prices (buy and sell prices) on currency or interest rate transactions.
?The proposed notes will constitute direct, unconditional, unsecured, and unsubordinated obligations of ICICI Bank. They shall at all times rank at par among themselves and with all other unsecured obligations of the bank,? Standard and Poor?s said in its note.
Earlier in the month, IDBI Bank hit the overseas bond market with a $300-million dollar bond issue, under its $5-billion medium term notes (MTN) issue.
Also read: Sunny Leone: I had fun, no regrets about working in adult entertainment industry
The coupon for the bond issue has been fixed at 350 basis points over 5-year US Treasury, which works out to 5%. The bonds will be raised through the lender’s Dubai branch.
The funds raised through this medium will be used
for IDBI Bank’s foreign branches.
Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel said it is looking to raise 350 million Swiss Franc through bonds, priced at 3%. In January, Indian Railway Finance Corporation?s (IRFC) was the first Indian company to issue an overseas bond issue for $500 million. IRFC overseas bond issue saw good investor appetite and received subscriptions to the tune of $3 billion.
IRFC’s overseas bond issue had a base size of $500 million with an option to retain oversubscription of $100 million but chose not to retain its oversubscription. IRFC?s bonds attracted a coupon of 3.917% and are listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
In 2013, Indian overseas bonds hit a record high as companies rushed their issues ahead of the anticipated Fed’s taper of monetary stimulus.
Also read: Complaint against Amitabh Bachchan for promoting superstition in TV commercial
