Oriental Bank of Commerce plans to raise Rs 1,000 crore via Basel-III bonds

Public sector lender Oriental Bank of Commerce plans on Tuesday said it will raise up to Rs 1,000 crore by issuing Basel III compliant bonds on private placement basis.

"The bank intends to raise tier I capital through private placement of Basel III compliant additional tier I bonds of Rs 10 lakh each at par aggregating to Rs 500 crore," OBC said in a regulatory filing.

The bank said the bonds issue has an option to retain subscription of up to Rs 500 crore.

The proposed bond issue of the lender has been rated A (Hyb) with a negative outlook by Icra, while CARE has rated it 'A' with negative outlook.

Basel III are the global standard banking grades which are being implemented to mitigate the concerns on potential stresses on asset quality and consequential impact on performance and profitability of banks.

Banks in India have been adopting these standards in phases since April 1, 2013 and are expected to fulfil the norms by March 2019, a little behind the internationally agreed date of January 1, 2019.

Oriental Bank of Commerce shares closed 0.29 per cent down at Rs 119.60 on BSE.