PFC raises $750 million through dollar-denominated bonds

Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC), a leading non-banking finance company (NBFC) in power sector, has said that it has raised $750 million through dollar-denominated bonds.

With this, PFC has become the first Indian public sector company to issue senior unsecured USD bonds with a tenure of more than 10 years.

A PFC press release issued on Friday said the corporation has "successfully carried out issuance of 10.25 year USD 750 million bonds on January 15 under Reg S & 144 A route".

The bonds have a fixed coupon of 3.95 per cent per annum and a yield of 4.066 per cent.

This is PFC's third international bond issuance in the current fiscal as well as its largest single-tranche bond.

The final order book amounted to more than USD 2.2 billion, attracting active and wider participation from investors across US, European and Asian markets, with around 42 per cent participation from the US market.

The release said the proceeds from bonds will be utilised in accordance with the external commercial borrowing regulations of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) including on lending to power sector utilities.

With this issue, the total foreign currency raising stands at around USD 3 billion, while the domestic raising is at around USD equivalent 7 billion under the PFC borrowing programme of USD equivalent 12 billion for 2019-20.

Referring to the success of bond, Chairman and Managing Director of PFC Rajeev Sharma said that PFC's bond offer saw a strong demand in the international market and the global investors have chosen to contribute to the development of Indian power sector.