Export-Import Bank of India (India Exim Bank) raised USD 1 bn via a 10-year bond issuance offering just 2.25% hence setting a record low for any 10-year bond issuance out of India on January 4, 2021.
The issue was oversubscribed worth USD 4 billion (four times) as against its offer worth USD 1 billion with several high-quality issuers having to settle for less than their requested allocations.
Managing Director David Rasquinha said that in Asia the issue was oversold within three hours of the launch with the order book hitting USD 1.75 billion Monday morning.
68% of the bonds were distributed to fund managers, 17% to Sovereign Wealth Funds, Central Banks and Insurance companies, 14% to banks and 1% to private banks and others. Big firms like Barclays, Citigroup, HSBC, JP Morgan, MUFG and Standard Chartered acted as Joint Lead Managers and book-runners for the offering. In terms of geographical distribution 55 per cent bonds were distributed in Asia, 29 per cent in the US and 16 per cent in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) region, India Exim Bank said.
The balance sheet of Exim Bank is substantially dollarized and is one of the largest Indian issuers of long-term debt in the international debt capital markets and its paper is treated as quasi-sovereign.
“India Exim Bank has been continuously monitoring the market for a possible issuance window. This is the only 10-year transaction by an Indian Financial Institution in the last one year. The quasi-sovereign nature of the Bank and EMBIG index eligibility of the bonds helped in the price tightening. The swift builds to the book and the large book size, even after significant tightening by 40 bps demonstrates strong confidence of overseas investors in the India story and in India Exim Bank. Throughout the lockdown period, the Bank had been regularly engaging with overseas investors, a move that paid off well as investors bid aggressively” said Harsha Bangari, Deputy Managing Director.
The funds from the sale of these bonds will be used to support project exports, overseas investment by way of long-term credit and its export lines of credit portfolio.