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The London Stock Exchange wants to be a platform of choice for Indian companies that want to access international debt finance for funding overseas acquisitions.
As the largest European fixed income platform by far, LSE sees itself being in a strong position on the fixed income front in supporting the global growth aspirations of Indian companies.
“There are significant opportunities (for LSE) here on the fixed-income front. Indian companies are very active in looking at acquisitions in the US and Europe. They will be the ones looking to access debt finance for funding acquisition. We are well-positioned to help them,” Nikhil Rathi, Head of International Development, LSE Group, told BusinessLine , here on Monday.
Rathi, who is visiting New Delhi as part of delegation led by London City Lord Mayor Alan Yarrow, also said LSE has been supporting the internationalisation of rupee. He cited the International Finance Corporation’s recent rupee bond issuance in LSE as an example of its position as a “premier debt platform”.
IFC recently raised about $165 million (in rupees) in LSE and the proceeds were parked in local bonds issued by Axis Bank to fund infrastructure within India.
“We are building our credentials and IFC transaction is one recent example. We intend to build on this,” Rathi said.
ECB, Sahoo panel reportRathi’s remarks are significant as India is the process of reviewing its external commercial borrowing (ECB) guidelines and a committee headed by MS Sahoo, a former SEBI wholetime member, is expected to submit its report in next few weeks.
“For the review of the depository receipts scheme, LSE Group was the only global exchange entity to directly interact with the Sahoo committee. We intend to engage with the committee for the ECB report too,” Rathi said.
The Government had already accepted the Sahoo panel’s first report (on depository receipts) and notified a new depository receipt scheme few weeks back.
Rathi hoped that the fundamental philosophy underpinning Sahoo panel’s thinking that strategic roadmap for India is to integrate with international capital markets should also underpin the ECB report.
LSE has a strong Indian connect on the equity side with as many as 60 Indian companies trading its platforms and with a combined market capitalisation of $200 billion.
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