Bank of India’s London branch has raised $500 million through a bond sale with a maturity of five-and-a-half years.
This is the first US dollar bond offering by a public sector bank in 2013.
Confirming that the bank has raised $500 million through issue of unsecured Notes, N. Seshadri, Executive Director, BOI, said the Notes would yield 280 basis points over comparable treasury (with a coupon of 3.625 per cent).
The entire proceeds will be used for funding foreign operations of the bank, he said.
This is also the first 144A/RegS bond transaction by an Indian public sector bank this year.
Oversubscribed 5.4 times
A RegS status means the bonds need not be registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Rule 144A enables the bonds to still be sold to institutional investors (Qualified Institutional Buyers) in the US.
Bank of India’s debt offering was oversubscribed 5.4 times, it is learnt.
Moody’s Investors Service had assigned ‘Baa3’ rating to the unsecured Notes, which will be listed on Singapore exchange.
The other Indian issuers, which have tapped offshore bond market this year, include Exim Bank, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel and ICICI Bank.