Delhi Airport raises USD 523 mn at 6.13 pc coupon

GMR Group-run Delhi International Airport Ltd has raised USD 522.6 million by selling 10-year bonds in the international market at a coupon of 6.125 per cent.
The company said the proceeds from the notes will be used to entirely refinance the current outstanding rupee loans and external commercial borrowings.
"The deal completely refinances entire bank term loans in DIAL and brings a long dated termed out structure ideal for infrastructure projects," Sidharath Kapur, president of GMR Airports said.
The issue is as per RBI regulations on automatic route for ECBs and the amount raised is capped by the outstanding amount of the rupee term loans and the ECB, the company said, but did not offer a break-up of the two.

Srinivas Bommidala of the GMR Group said this transaction reinforces the group's capabilities to raise funds from international investors.
Without quantifying the oversubscription, he said the issue was oversubscribed multiple times despite volatile market conditions.

Kapur said the company got a good pricing as the final pricing was fixed at 6.125 per cent against an initial pricing of 6.50 per cent, reflecting the strength of the book and saw investment interest coming from high quality investors in Asia, Europe and the US.
The Reg S bond issue is the first 10-year high yield USD bond transaction from the country this year.

Citigroup and Standard Chartered Bank acted as joint global coordinators, while Citigroup, Standard Chartered, Axis Bank, HSBC Bank, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and MUFG acted as joint book runners for the issue.