Syndicate Bank will be raising $350 million in the next few weeks through the medium term note route in the overseas market. This will be used to fund its London operations.
“We will be appointing the advisors for the issue next week and launch road shows in the second half of the month. We are going for the MTM issue as we will be able to raise relatively cheaper funds,” M Anjaneya Prasad, Executive Director, said.
A medium term note is a debt security that usually matures in 5-10 years.
The bank’s London branch business grew 33 per cent last fiscal to touch ₹57,884 crore, up from ₹43,442 crore in the previous fiscal.
The bank has already received board approval to raise up to $2 billion as and when the interest rates are favourable, he told media persons here on Friday.
New branchesOn its overseas plans, Prasad said the bank was looking at opening branches in South Africa, Dubai , Hong Kong, Thailand and China. “We have already completed our survey in Dubai and will approach the RBI for approval next quarter. We hope to have our second overseas branch (after its London unit) sometime in 2015-16,” he said.
On the domestic front, the bank will be opening five new regions, including in Ludhiana, Salem, Varanasi and Visakhapatnam this fiscal, followed by a second region in Gujarat, a new region in Telangana and a second region in residual Andhra Pradesh.
On corporate credit off-take, Prasad said corporate credit was tepid last fiscal, with the industry expecting it to firm up after a new government takes over at the Centre.
The bank was targeting a global business (domestic and London business) of ₹479,000 crore in the current fiscal against ₹388,584 crore last year. “We are also aiming at having 4,100 ATMs from the current network of 1,900 by the end of this fiscal,” he said.