Bharti Airtel to raise funds $1,000 mn at 4.375%

A report says that the bonds are expected to be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. Deal priced at almost NIL New-issue Premium amidst heavy supply on the same day 

Bharti Airtel Limited, a leading global telecommunications company
with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa announced that it has successfully priced an issuance of USD 1000 million 4.375% Senior Notes due 2025. The Notes are expected to carry a final rating of Investment Grade from Moody’s, Standard & Poor and Fitch.

With 66% bonds allocated to the US investors, this is the highest ever allocation to US investors in any Indian deal, demonstrating the strong investor base Bharti has created for itself in developed markets allowing it to efficiently raise capital from world’s leading fixed income investors.

Broad highlights of the allocation:

• Total Order Book of USD 2 billion – subscribed 2.0X with participation from 160 quality accounts.
• Regional allocation – US - 66%, Europe - 18% and Asia - 16%
• 80% allocation to mutual funds and insurance companies, with balance to banks.
• The USD Notes have been priced at 210 basis points over 10 year USD Treasury with a fixed coupon of 4.375% per annum to yield 4.462%.

Harjeet Kohli, Group Treasurer, Bharti Airtel said, “We are extremely pleased with the continuing strong appetite for our credit from high quality investors with reducing credit spreads each time we come to the market- demonstrating the strength of our credit profile. With bond issuances of close to USD 6 billion outstanding post this issue, Bharti now has a well-established credit curve across tenure buckets and currencies. These, along with the availability under our long dated ECB terms signed recently with Chinese banks (CDB and ICBC), significantly elongate the tenor of our financing as also helps larger cash flows at hand.”

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank acted as Joint Lead Managers along with DBS Bank Limited as the Co-Manager for this offering.