Bharti Airtel raises $1.25 bn through issue of dual tranche $ bond offering

Bharti Airtel has successfully priced its debt fund raising of $1.25 billion through the issuance of its first ever dual-tranche $ bond offering spread across senior and perpetual issuance. This is the largest issuance by any Indian Investment Grade issuer since January 2019.

Airtel has priced $750 million of senior 10.25-year bonds at a yield after adding 187.5 basis points (bps) over the US Treasury, for an implied coupon of 3.25 per cent.

"Simultaneously, Network i2i Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company priced $500 million in guaranteed subordinated perpetual 5.25 year bonds with a coupon of 3.975 per cent," the company said.

The offering was significantly oversubscribed with very strong demand from several marquee Asian, European and American funds. Thirty per cent of the tranche has been distributed in the APAC region, 45% from EMEA with the balance from US accounts. Over 95% has been allocated to asset managers, insurance companies and real money accounts with the balance to private banks, corporate, broker dealers and others.

"The strong reception of both our senior and perpetual bonds by high quality global investor community reflects its confidence in our business and credit. We remain focused on keeping our balance sheet strong and these issuances further bolster our capital structure. We are delighted by the outcome and thank our investors for their continuing support," said Ashish Sardana - Group Treasurer, Bharti Airtel.

Shares of Bharti Airtel was last trading in BSE at Rs.573.05 as compared to the previous close of Rs. 565.5. The total number of shares traded during the day was 1596660 in over 29769 trades.

Meanwhile, the stock hit an intraday high of Rs. 581.4 and intraday low of 563. The net turnover during the day was Rs. 910,186,215.