As per industry sources, Reliance Jio is planning to raise around $750 million (approximately Rs 57 billion) through an offshore syndicated loan to primarily fund future capex needs. The likes of Bank of America, Credit Agricole, HSBC, State Bank of India and three Japanese banks — MUFG, Mizuho and SMBC – are slated to syndicate the five-year offshore loan likely to be priced after adding 120-130 basis points over the secured overnight financing rate (SOFR) — a new global rate gauge.
The loan agreement is expected to be signed by the end of March 2022. Meanwhile, Jio is likely to ink an agreement with its potential lenders.
Earlier in January 2022, Jio had raised about Rs 80 billion by selling corporate bonds in local money markets to primarily clear a portion of past dues relating to spectrum purchases in the 2014 and 2015 auctions.
Meanwhile, a chunk of the proceeds of Jio’s latest fundraise could be used for capex spends toward the first wave of 5G network rollouts, particularly in the urban markets. Jio may also use a portion of the loan proceeds to refinance some short-term bridge loans raised earlier through commercial papers.
