Comments
International Finance Corporation (a multilateral institution of the World Bank Group) has increased an outstanding Maharaja bond to raise an additional Rs 180 crore ($27 million) for infrastructure investment in India. This is probably the first re-issuance of debt securities by a non-government in the domestic rupee markets.
IFC Maharaja bonds are issued under a $2.5 billion programme. The bonds are listed on the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE).
Chitra Ramkrishna, Managing Director and CEO, National Stock Exchange of India, said: " IFC re-issuing bonds will contribute to efficient secondary markets price discovery as issue size grows. We are committed to growing corporate bond markets in India as we have equity and currency markets. The NSE-IFC partnership and will definitely take us to new heights in the near future."
Jingdong Hua, IFC Vice-President and Treasurer, said: “We see continued strong interest from investors in rupee-denominated bonds by high quality issuers such as IFC. By reissuing Maharaja bonds, we are making a new contribution to the development of India’s debt capital markets, while channeling domestic savings for infrastructure investment in the country.”
In September 2014, IFC had issued the first Maharaja bonds, setting an international triple-A benchmark for the country's domestic capital markets. The bonds raised Rs 600 crore ($100 million) from international and domestic institutional investors.
To attract different types of investors, the bonds offered four tranches with different maturities: a five-year bullet bond of Rs 150 crore ($25 million), a 10-year bullet bond of Rs 150 crore, and two separately trade-able redeemable principal part (STRPPs) tranches of Rs 300 crore ($50 million), with maturities ranging from 13 to 20 years.
At that time, two domestic investors agreed to purchase, over a pre-agreed period of time, up to Rs 204 crore of STRPPs, with tenors raining from 13 to 18 years. This unique structure enables IFC to match the timing of its rupee bond issuances with its funding needs for infrastructure projects.
The lead arrangers for this reissue are HSBC, ICICI Securities Primary Dealership, and SBI Capital Markets.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.