Bharti Airtel raises $1 bn through 10-year bonds issue

Bharti Airtel on Thursday announced it has raised $1 billion through issuance of 10-year bonds to international investors.

"Total order book of $2 billion - subscribed 2.0X with participation from 160 quality accounts. Eighty percent allocation to mutual funds and insurance companies, with balance to banks," said a company statement.

The company will utilise the raised amount for capital expenditure.

The USD Notes have been priced at 210 basis points over 10-year US Treasury bonds with a fixed coupon of 4.375 percent per annum to yield 4.462 percent.

"With 66 percent bonds allocated to the US investors, this is the highest ever allocation to US investors in any Indian deal," the company claimed.

"With bond issuances of close to $6 billion outstanding post this issue, Bharti now has a well-established credit curve across tenure buckets and currencies. These, along with the availability under our long dated ECB terms signed recently with Chinese banks (CDB and ICBC), significantly elongate the tenor of our financing as also helps larger cash flows at hand," said group treasurer Harjeet Kohli.

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank acted as joint lead managers along with DBS Bank Limited as the co-manager for this offering.