RIL raises $1 bn via 10-year bond issue

RIL priced its dollar bond offering of $1 billion at 240 basis points over the 10-year US Treasury Note, at a price of $98.998 to yield 4.249 per cent. The proceeds of the bond offering, which was oversubscribed over 4.5 times, will be utilised for the ongoing capital expenditure plans of the company.

The notes were distributed 31 per cent in Asia, 25 per cent in Europe, and 44 per cent in the US, RIL said in a release. In terms of investor distribution, 62 per cent of it was distributed to fund managers, 7 per cent to sovereign wealth funds, 18 per cent to insurance companies and pension funds, and 13 per cent to banks and private banks, RIL added.

“This transaction opened up the market for private sector corporate issuances out of Asia, against the backdrop of challenging market conditions. We successfully concluded a swift intra-day execution to capitalise on the market window and lock in long-term funds at an attractive cost. We are happy to see participation from repeat investors being supplemented by new high quality investors, including central banks and real money accounts,” RIL joint chief financial officer V Srikanth said.

The bond offering by RIL is the first 10-year issuance in the oil and gas sector out of Asia, ex-Japan, since July 2014 and is the largest private sector oil and gas deal out of Asia, ex-Japan, since the last RIL guaranteed bond in 2012, RIL said.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup Global Markets , Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, and Standard Chartered Bank acted as joint global coordinators. Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley acted as active joint bookrunners.