ICICI Bank raises Rs 40 billion via bonds, money to be used to fund growth

Private sector lender ICICI Bank on Tuesday said it has raised Rs 40 billion from bonds to fund growth.

"The Committee of Executive Directors of the bank at its meeting held today has approved the allotment of 40,000 Basel III compliant unsecured subordinated perpetual Additional Tier 1 bonds in the nature of debentures aggregating Rs 4000 crore (40 billion) on private placement basis," ICICI Bank said in a regulatory filing to stock exchanges.

"The notes carry a coupon of 9.15 per cent payable annually and were issued at par," it said.

The bonds would be listed on the Wholesale Debt Market segment of BSE or National Stock Exchange of India, it said.

Under the Basel-III norms, AT-1 bonds come with loss absorbency features, meaning that in case of stress, banks can write off such investments or convert them into common equity if approved by the RBI.

AT-1 bonds, which qualify as core or equity capital, are one of the means of raising capital by public sector banks that require Rs 2.40 trillion by March 2019 to meet global norms on capital adequacy (Basel III).