Bharti Airtel raises USD 1.25 billion through debt instruments

Airtel said this is the first ever dual-tranche US dollar bond issued by the company spread across senior and perpetual issuance.

New Delhi: Bharti Airtel on Thursday said it has raised $1.25 billion through issuance of debt instruments. The debt fund raising by the company comes just before the start of spectrum auction valued at Rs 3.92 lakh crore.

Airtel said this is the first ever dual-tranche US dollar bond issued by the company spread across senior and perpetual issuance. “This is the largest issuance by any Indian Investment Grade issuer since January 2019,” Airtel said in a statement.

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The company said that the order book was over-subscribed about 3 times on final pricing with peak order book of $5 billion at time for final price guidance. Airtel has priced $750 million of senior 10.25 year bonds at a yield of US 10 year treasury 187.5bps for an implied coupon of 3.25 per cent.

Simultaneously, Bharti Airtel’s subsidiary Network i2i Limited, priced $500 million in guaranteed subordinated perpetual NC 5.25 year bonds with a coupon of 3.975 per cent. This is the lowest ever yield on 10 year and Perpetual bonds for Bharti Airtel. “The offering was significantly oversubscribed with very strong demand from several marquee Asian, European and American funds,” the statement said.

The senior 10.25 year tranche was launched at IPG (Initial Price Guidance) of 230 basis points (bps) over 10 year US Treasuries and eventually tightened by 42.5 bps to price at 10 year US Treasury 187.5 bps. “Similarly, the perpetual NC 5.25 tightened by 37.5 bps from its initial price guidance,” the statement said.