Exim Bank raises $1 bn via 10-year dollar bonds at tightest-ever spreads

Exim Bank on Tuesday said it has raised $1 billion through 10-year senior secured dollar bonds, marking the first dollar bond issuance by an Indian entity in 2025. The bonds were issued at the tightest-ever spread of 100 basis points over 10-year US Treasuries.

 

“This transaction also marks the tightest spread ever achieved for a 10-year public issuance out of India and the tightest ‘BBB-’ 10-year USD public issuance out of Asia ex-Japan,” the bank said in a statement.

 

BofA Securities, Citigroup, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, and Standard Chartered Bank were the joint lead managers and joint bookrunners for the offering.

 

“We are delighted to open the debt markets for Indian issuers with the tightest spread ever achieved from India. Yet another issuance from India Exim Bank that sets the benchmark for a well-timed and quality issuance,” said Harsha Bangari, managing director of India Exim Bank.

 

Capitalising on strong demand, Exim Bank managed to tighten the final price by 30 basis points from the initial price guidance to achieve pricing of UST10+100 basis points, with a negative new issue concession of 5 basis points. Given the quasi-sovereign nature of the bank, its strong credit profile, and the EMBIG index eligibility of the bonds, the issuance garnered significant interest from marquee investors, with a peak order book of $2.7 billion.

 

The investors for the bond offering were well-distributed, with 50 per cent in Asia, 32 per cent in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa region, and 18 per cent in the US. In terms of distribution by investor type, the bonds were allocated to high-quality investors, with around 64 per cent distributed to asset and fund managers, 18 per cent to banks, and 16 per cent to insurance, pension funds, and the public sector, followed by private banks and others.