State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, on Thursday said it has raised $600 million (about Rs 4,500 crore) from international dollar denominated public bond. The state-owned lender claimed that it is the first public dollar bond issued by an Indian scheduled commercial bank since the onset of COVID-19.
The bond has maturity period of 5.5 years and coupon of 1.80 per cent payable semi-annually under Regulation-S, the public sector lender said in a press release. SBI said that this is lowest coupon achieved by an Indian issuer for a 5.5-year issuance to date.
The bonds will be listed on Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd and India INX, a subsidiary of BSE.
Commenting on the transaction, C. Venkat Nageswar (Deputy Managing Director - International Banking Group) said, "The successful issuance demonstrates the strong investor base SBI has created for itself in offshore capital markets allowing it to efficiently raise funds from the World's leading fixed income investors, even during periods of heightened volatility. This is an indication of confidence global investors have in the Indian banking sector generally, and in SBI in particular and is also testament to the exceptional access that SBI enjoys in the global capital markets."
The lender said that the issuance of securities represented SBI's return to the international public bond markets after a gap of close to 2 years. The transaction was well received and saw strong interest from investors across geographies with a final order book in excess of $1.9 billion, it said.
The senior unsecured fixed rate notes are expected to carry a final rating of Baa3, BBB- and BBB- from Moody's, Standard and Poor's and Fitch, respectively.
BofA Securities, Citigroup, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, MUFG, SBICAP and Standard Chartered Bank were the Joint Bookrunners for this offering.
Meanwhile, shares of SBI were trading at Rs 287.75, up 1 per cent, against the previous closing of Rs 284.90 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
By Chitranjan Kumar