Axis Bank raises $250 mn from overseas bond sale at 5%

Private sector Axis Bank today joined its larger peers like SBI and ICICI Bank to sell overseas dollar bonds, mopping up $250 million at a coupon of 5.13% which is higher than those offered by other banks.

The city-based third largest private bank said this new sale is only a "re-opening of its existing 5.125% senior unsecured notes due 2017".

On August 17, the largest private sector lender ICICI Bank had raised $750 million from dollar bonds sale in a 5.5-year fixed rate notes carrying a coupon of 4.70%, through its Dubai branch.

Late last month, state-run SBI had mopped the largest and cheapest (by a domestic bank) foreign debt by raising $1.25 billion in dollar bond sale.

But the cheapest from a domestic institution came from Exim Bank earlier this month which raised $500 million for 4% coupon, which at 348 bps above US treasury.

Commenting on the successful completion of the bond sale, Axis Bank President for Treasury, International Banking and Business Banking P Mukherjee said, "in spite of the $3.35 billion worth of bonds issued by domestic banks in the last four weeks, the overwhelming investor response to the re-opening of our existing notes highlight the consistent support to the bank's credit from the global investor base".

Barclays, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, HSBC, JP Morgan, and Standard Chartered Bank acted as joint book-runners and lead managers for the Axis Bank bond sale.