Bollywood film-backed bonds: Eros now bets on new funding scheme

A Bollywood filmmaker that was spurned by credit investors several years ago is changing the terms on a planned dollar bond offering after money managers balked again, as signs of caution in global debt markets mount.

Eros International is tweaking its plan after holding road shows last month, at a time when investors have been inundated with dollar bond supply and US-China trade tensions are bringing more volatility to markets.

In a novel twist, the maker of films with stars such as Priyanka Chopra and Salman Khan now plans to offer notes that will be secured against its library of more than 12,000 film titles available to global viewers via its platform Eros. 

Now, after having sought an unsecured structure last month, the company said when asked. It pulled a dollar bond offering two years ago after investors demanded higher yields.

A surge in Asian dollar note sales is testing investor appetite after the market's best rally in years. Buyers of Indian firms' overseas debt have also faced issuance that has reached records in 2019.

Last year, billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries acquired a 5 per cent stake in Eros. The Mumbai-based company reported an unexpected quarterly profit.