ICICI Bank buys back bonds worth $84.5 mn

The country’s top private sector lender ICICI Bank on Thursday said it has repurchased bonds worth $84.58 million (Rs 414.44 crore) , issued from its Bahrain branch, primarily on falling bond prices.

The bank has repurchased bonds worth $79.58 million out of a $2-billion tranche issued in October last year, while bonds worth another $5 million have been bought back from another set of $750 million issued in January 2007, the bank said in a BSE filing.

When asked about the repurchase, an ICICI Bank spokesperson said, “The buyback was done primarily because CDS (Credit Default Swap) spreads had widened and bond prices had declined.”