Chola MS General Insurance raises Rs. 100cr of Tier II capital to fuel growth in fiscal 2017-18

Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company Limited has announced the successful private placement of 1,000 Unsecured, Subordinated, Fully Paid-up, Listed, Redeemable, Non-Convertible Debentures having face value of Rs. 10,00,000 each (the NCDs), at par, aggregating to Rs. 100 crores. The coupon rate is 8.75 percent per annum and a maturity period of 10 years with a call option after 5 years.

Mr. S S Gopalarathnam, MD and CEO, Chola MS General Insurance said, "We have augmented our capital base by issuing subordinated debt, post the recent measures announced by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), allowing alternative forms of capital. The funds raised through this issue would be used to fuel and facilitate business growth by further strengthening the Company's solvency. During Fiscal 2017-18, Chola MS is poised to grow its Gross Written Premium (GWP) to Rs. 4,500 crore - a growth of 40 percent over the last fiscal".

The NCDs have been assigned a credit rating AA+ (Outlook: Stable) by rating agencies CRISIL and ICRA.

The NCDs will be listed in National Stock Exchange of India Limited.

The issuance of these NCDs are in accordance with the provisions of inter alia the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Other Forms of Capital) Regulations, 2015, as amended from time to time, which were notified in November 2015 whereby Indian insurers were allowed to raise additional capital through subordinated debt or preference shares.