COUNTRY REPORT INDIAINDIA
DEBT CAPITAL MARKETS
› NTPC SENDS RFP FOR DOLLARS
India’s state-owned power generation
company NTPC has sent banks a request for
proposal to raise up to US$400m from 10-
year and 30-year dollar bonds, according to
a market source.
The deadline for banks to reply is January
24.
Last November, Moody’s upgraded NTPC
to Baa2 from Baa3 after it revised India’s
sovereign rating.
NTPC has yet to make an official
announcement on plans to issue dollar bonds.
› EXIM INDIA PLANS DOLLAR PRINT
EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF INDIA , rated Baa2/
BBB– (Moody’s/Fitch), has hired banks for
a benchmark issue of 144A/Reg US dollar
senior notes with tenors of five to 10 years.
Barclays , Citigroup , JP Morgan , MUFG and
Standard Chartered Bank have arranged
meetings with fixed-income investors in Asia,
Europe and the US, starting last Friday.
The proposed issue will come off the
bank’s US$10bn global MTN programme.
› SBI GETS OKAY TO RAISE RS200BN
STATE BANK OF INDIA has received board
approval to raise Rs200bn (US$3.1bn) from
long-term bonds to finance infrastructure
and affordable housing, according to a
release on BSE.
It can raise the funds from the domestic
and overseas markets in FY17 and FY18.
Earlier this month, India’s largest state-
owned bank in asset terms received board
approval to sell long-term Reg S/144A
bonds for up to US$2bn in one or multiple
tranches in the overseas market.
› GREENKO LINES UP 10-YEAR BONDS
GREENKO GROUP plans to raise Rs15.35bn from
10-year rupee bonds at 9.4% payable semi-
annually, according to market sources.
The notes from the group, which has
backing from Singapore sovereign wealth
fund GIC and the Abu Dhabi Investment
Authority, will be issued through five
special-purpose vehicles and have a call
option after years three, four and five.
If the bonds are not called after five
years, the coupon would step up 150bp,
one source has said.
In November, Greenko raised Rs30bn
from 10-year rupee bonds at 8.75% to
refinance a loan for a solar-power project
and drew an enthusiastic investor response.
The structure will be similar to that of
the November issue, where all the SPVs
cross guarantee each other, along with
a guarantee from the parent. The power
offtake risk will be on state-owned NTPC,
according to another source.
Greenko has yet to announce officially
the price, size and structure of the issue.
The notes are expected to score a Care
rating of A+.
In an interview with IFR last November,
Vasudeva Rao Kaipa, chief financial officer
and director of Greenko, said the group
intended to meet at least half of its borrowing
needs from the domestic market.› J&K BANK SELLS SEVEN-YEAR T2JAMMU & KASHMIR BANK has sold Rs5bn of seven-
year Basel III-compliant Tier 2 bonds at
9.25%, according to a National Securities
Depository filing.
India Ratings and Brickwork see the
notes as AA.
Credit Suisse is lead arranger on the issue.
Last month, the public-sector bank raised
a similar amount from 10-year T2 bonds
also at 9.25%.› REC RAISES RS10.55BN AT 7.6%RURAL ELECTRIFICATION CORP has priced three-
year and three-month rupee bonds at 7.6%
to raise Rs10.55bn, according to a filing on
National Securities Depository.
In December, REC raised Rs35.53bn from
10-year rupee bonds at 7.7%.
The rupee notes have AAA ratings from
Crisil, Icra, India Ratings and Care.› NABARD RAISES RS2.5BN AT 7.75%NATIONAL BANK FOR AGRICULTURE AND RURAL
DEVELOPMENT (Nabard) has raised Rs2.5bn
from 15-year government of India-serviced
bonds at 7.75%, according to data on
National Securities Depository.
ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank are
arrangers on the notes, to which Crisil and
India Ratings have assigned AAA.The government will pay interest on the
bonds semi-annually.SYNDICATED LOANS
› TATA STEEL NAMES 21 FOR REFITATA STEEL has hired 21 lenders for a six-year
loan of US$2.16bn.
The 21 are ANZ , Axis Bank , Bank of America
Merrill Lynch , Barclays , BNP Paribas , Citigroup ,
Credit Agricole , DBS Bank , Deutsche Bank , First
Abu Dhabi Bank , HSBC , ICICI Bank , ING Bank , JP
Morgan , Kotak Mahindra , MUFG , Societe Generale ,
Standard Chartered , State Bank of India , Sumitomo
Mitsui Banking Corp and Yes Bank.
The US$2.16bn loan will have an average
life of five years and expected to pay all-in
pricing of 200bp–250bp. NatSteel Asia
(Singapore) will be the borrower.
It will refinance short-terms loans at one
of Tata Steel’s units in Singapore. The size
could be reduced if Tata Steel succeeds with
the bonds.
The fundraising follows the proposed
merger of the European operations of Tata
Steel with Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Steel
announced in September.
The borrowing will refinance short-term
loans raised for Tata Steel’s Singapore
units, which were on-lent to its European
operations for working capital purposes.
One loan of around US$400m was taken
in the name of NatSteel Asia. Another unit,
T S Global Procurement (formerly Tata Steel
Global Procurement), was also borrower on
other short-term loans.› INDUSIND GOES FOR LARGESTMumbai-based INDUSIND BANK has named five
leads for a three-year loan of US$500m,
returning for its biggest borrowing five
months after its last visit.
Barclays , Citigroup , HSBC , Standard
Chartered and State Bank of India are the
mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners
on the loan, which is expected to be
launched shortly.
IndusInd last tapped the market in
August for a US$300m three-year loan
for which it drew 11 lenders in general
syndication.
Citigroup, CTBC Bank, HSBC and State
Bank of India were the MLABs on that
facility, offering a top-level all-in pricing
of 117.5bp, based on an interest margin of
90bp over Libor.