Exim Bank raises $200 mn from bond issue

India's premier export finance institution, Exim Bank, has raised $200 million by issuing bonds mainly to investors in Asian and European markets, to support its lending operations.

The bonds, which are part of Exim Bank's $1 billion Medium Term Notes (MTN) Programme launched in October, 2006, have a maturity of five years and were priced 179 basis points above Libor, the bank said.

"This issue was primarily aimed at augmenting our foreign currency lending operations," Exim Bank's Deputy General Manager (Corporate Finance Group) Harsha Bangari said.

The issue attracted more than $750 million against the issue size of $200 million. The allocation was made to 84 investors across the globe.

Over 67 per cent of the issue was distributed to Asian investors, with the remainder primarily to European investors.

"The bank’s foreign currency borrowings constituted 39 per cent of its total borrowings and the issue is a part of the bank's conscious strategy to diversify its investor base," Exim Bank Executive Director N Shankar said.

Citigroup and Deutsche Bank acted as the joint lead managers and book runners for the offering.