SBI raises $1bn via international bond sale

Mumbai: SBI has mopped up one billion dollars in an international bond sale programme, according to one of the merchant bankers Citigroup.

“SBI successfully sold its five-year senior unsecured bond (REG S)at 255 BPS over the US treasury yielding a coupon of 325 base per annum raising one billion dollars through its London branch. The issue was closed late last night,” Citigroup told PTI today.

[caption id=“attachment_696189” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] At 3.75 percent over the US treasury bills, the SBI issue was the cheapest-ever by a domestic company till date. Reuters[/caption]

However, SBI could not be contacted this morning for comments, though Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri yesterday had confirmed that the issue was to be closed late last night. At 325 base, this could be the tightest money raised by a domestic corporate in a foreign market.

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The merchant banker also said the fixed bonds, which were sold to raise $1 billion, will be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange and has a Baa2 rating from Moody’s and BBB- by Standard & Poor’s. This is the third bond sale by SBI in the past two years, with the latest being the $1.25 billion, it had raised in a 10-year issue last July. That issue was the largest-ever from a domestic bank and also the cheapest five year-issue by a domestic issuer.

At 3.75 percent over the US treasury bills, the SBI issue was the cheapest-ever by a domestic company till date with the effective coupon rate, payable half-yearly, working out to be just 4.125 per cent. SBI had mopped up another $1 billion in July 2010 also. The bank has a board mandate to raise $10 billion from overseas over the next few years, and it has a headroom to raise nearly $6 billion more, including the current issuance, since it had raised nearly $4 billion till last year.

With the SBI issue, so far this year, domestic companies like Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Exim Bank, PowerGrid, and Tata Communications among others, have raised a whopping $7.5 billion, which is 75 percent of what India Inc mopped in the entire previous year.

PTI