Bharti Telecom accepts bids for 3-year bonds

India’s Bharti Telecom has accepted bids worth an aggregate of 18.50 billion rupees ($224.67 million) for a two-part sale of bonds maturing in three years, three merchant bankers said on Thursday.

The telecom operator, which holds a stake in Bharti Airtel, has accepted bids of 8 billion rupees for three-year bonds, the coupon for which would be the six-month marginal cost of lending rate (MCLR) of Kotak Mahindra Bank and currently stands at 8.40%.

It has also accepted bids of 10.50 billion rupees for plain vanilla three-year notes at an annual coupon of 8.60%.

It had invited commitment bids for both the issues earlier in the day. The MCLR-linked bond issuance will have a call option at the end of one year.

The bonds are rated AA+ by CRISIL and the issue will close for subscription next week.

Earlier this month, the company raised an aggregate of 45 billion rupees through two-year and three-year papers at an annual coupon of 8.60% and 8.70%.

The company also raised an aggregate of 70 billion rupees through bonds maturing in two years and three years in November. Reuters