Kseb To Privately Place Bonds Worth Rs 250 Crore

The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) is privately placing bonds worth Rs 250 crore, including a greenshoe option of Rs 125 crore. Apollo Hospital is also planning to enter the debt market with a smaller issue of Rs 10 crore. The coupon rate is fixed at 15.65 per cent, payable half-yearly.

The KSEB issue, rated A + (SO) by Care, carries a high coupon of 15.75 per cent. The safety factor is few notches high as the issue is fully backed by the state government. It has a tenure of six years and redemption is offered in two equal instalments at the end of the fifth and sixth years. The yield to maturity (YTM) works out to 16.37 per cent. The issue opened for subscription yesterday.

 

KSEB bonds have a face value of Rs 1 lakh and the minimum subscription amount is Rs 5 lakh. The half-yearly interest is payable on 31 January and 31 July. The bonds will be listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The deemed date of allotment is September 15, 1997. The Apollo Hospital issue, on the other hand, has a tenure of six years. Redemption is assured in three instalments: of 33 per cent each at the end of the fourth and fifth years, the remaining 34 per cent at the end of the sixth year. There is also an upfront discount of 0.5 per cent. Meanwhile, the Gujarat Industrial Power Corporation (Gipco) has garnered Rs 84.5 crore subscription for its Rs 75 crore, including a greenshoe option of Rs 25 crore, one-year debt float. The unrated issue had a coupon rate of 15 per cent.

The issue was handled jointly by Birla Global and I-Sec. I-Sec mopped up subscriptions worth Rs 50.5 crore, whereas Birla managed to raise Rs 30.4 crore. The corporation has decided to retain the whole amount, merchant banking sources said.

The Rs 50-crore bond issue of Haryana State Electricity Board (HSEB) also closed on Thursday. The float has attracted subscriptions worth Rs 65 crore. However, according to sources in Darashaw & Co, the managers of the issue, HSEB has decided to refund the oversubscription of Rs 15 crore.

But, Haldia Petrochem and Leela Venture have not yet closed their issues.. The Rs 100-crore float of Haldia was still short of Rs 5 lakh and Leela has not progressed further from the Rs 30 crore mark reported at the beginning of the week.

There were reports of Leela offering upfront discounts to lure bankers. However, the managers of the issue denied it.

Though there is a provision for offering upfront discount, we havent exercised this option as yet. We have a few commitments from bankers and hopefully we would wrap up the issue in a weeks time, they maintained.