Bank of India (BoI) is looking to raise at least $500 million through dollar-denominated bonds in January, sources told FE. The bank is aiming to price the bonds that would likely have a five-year tenure, at 135 basis points over Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate).
According to Bloomberg, the public sector lender has appointed Barclays, Citi, HSBC and JP Morgan as the arrangers for the issue. The bank had earlier raised $500 million through such bonds at 3.63% in early 2013 which attracted a total subscription of $2.7 billion.
Bankers said most overseas bond issuances are getting postponed to January owing to weak market conditions in December. Typically, foreign investors consolidate their books in December thereby limiting their investments in bonds. Moreover, a string of holidays in US and UK is likely to keep trading and demand for overseas bonds tepid.
Bhavik Nair