ICICI Bank is likely to raise a minimum of $500 million via its ten-year dollar-denominated bonds which was getting priced on Monday, according to information by sources till the time of going to press.

“The response has been good so far from Asia. The revised price guidance has tightened to 210-215 basis points over the 10-year US Treasury yield from the initial price target of 230 basis points,” a banker close to the deal said.

On Monday, the 10-year US Treasury yield was trending close to 1.95% as per data available on Bloomberg in the evening. “This is one of the first 10-year papers from an Indian bank in the last two years or so,” a banker pointed out.

Barclays, HSBC, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Credit Agricole, Citi and MUFG are the bankers to the deal according to sources. The issue is a ‘Reg S/144 A’ which means it is open to investors in the United States as well.

“US investors keenly watch the Asia response to a bond issuance. We will have to look how it pans out but the subscription has been considerable so far. The book size is close to $2 billion as of now,” another banker close to the deal told FE till the time the story went to press.

The bonds are to be issued under the bank’s $7.5 billion, global medium term note (MTN) programme. Standard and Poor’s ratings agency has assigned a ‘BBB-‘ rating to the proposed issue while Moody’s has issued a ‘Baa3’ rating.

“The drawdown will be carried out from its Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) branch, and the bonds will
be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange,” Moody’s said in a release.

This would be the third major offshore bond deal out of India in 2016 after Exim Bank and NTPC. A few weeks back, NTPC had raised $500 million through dollar-denominated bonds at 255 basis points over the 10-year Treasury yield. In January, Exim Bank had also raised $500 million via dollar-denominated bonds.

In 2015, companies and banks raised close to $8 billion via offshore bond issuances. The figure was less than half of what was raised in 2014 — a record figure of $18.6 billion.

Beyond boundary
* Barclays, HSBC, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Credit Agricole, Citi and MUFG are the bankers to the deal
* Bonds are to be issued under the bank’s $7.5 billion, global medium-term note  programme
* Drawdown to be carried out from its Dubai International Financial Centre branch, Moody’s said