Bharti Airtel has raised $1.25 billion through the issuance of its first ever dual-tranche US$ bond offering spread across senior and perpetual issuance. Airtel has priced its 10.25-year-old senior bonds at $750 million at a yield of US 10 Year Treasury + 187.5bps for an implied coupon of 3.250 per cent.
Meanwhile, Airtel’s wholly owned subsidiary Network i2i Limited has raised $500 million in guaranteed subordinated perpetual NC 5.25 year bonds with a coupon of 3.975 per cent.
As per industry analysis, this is the lowest ever yield on 10 year and perpetual bonds for Bharti Airtel.
According to market reports, the offering was significantly oversubscribed with strong demand from several marquee Asian, European and American funds.
Airtel has said that the peak order book of over $5 billion at the time of final price guidance allowed the pricing to tighten significantly from initial price guidance (IPG) on both tranches and allowed the company to meet its pricing as well as size objectives.
Among the companies that acted as joint lead managers and joint bookrunners for the fundraise were, Barclays, BNP Paribas, BofA Securities, Citigroup, HSBC, J P Morgan and Standard Chartered Bank. Meanwhile, DBS Bank Ltd and SMBC Nikko acted as the co-managers on the trade.
