RIL raises $4 bln in India’s biggest forex bond deal

Reliance Industries Ltd. has raised $4 billion via offshore bonds, in what is the largest foreign-currency bond issue out of India.

The oil-to-chemicals conglomerate raised $1.5 billion through 10-year securities, $1.75 billion across a 30-year period and $750 million across 40 years, a company press release said. The notes have been priced at 120 basis points, 160 basis points, and 170 basis points over the respective U.S. treasury benchmarks.

It added that the credit spread over the U.S. treasuries is the smallest achieved by any Indian issuers. The spread is the additional interest demanded by investors for taking on more risk. A smaller spread reflects greater comfort with an issuer’s credit quality.

BoFA Securities, Citigroup, and HSBC acted as joint global coordinators for the issue.

With the transaction, Reliance Industries said it has joined a “select group of issuers from Asia” to have concluded a “jumbo bond issuance”, a term typically given to large-sized issues well above a billion dollars.

Overall, the issue was subscribed three times, with an order book aggregating nearly $11.5 billion, the release added.

Reliance, rated Baa2 by Moody’s Investors Service, is among the most active foreign currency issuers out of India. According to a Moody’s Jan.4 rating note, proceeds from the bond issue will be used for refinancing. BloombergQuint