R-Com seeks to raise at least $300 million through debut dollar bond sale

Mumbai: Reliance Communications Ltd (R-Com) is seeking to raise at least $300 million (around Rs.1,900 crore) by selling bonds to investors in Europe and Asia, said two people familiar with the deal who did not want to be named.

This is the first time that R-Com is tapping the overseas market as it seeks funds for capital expenditure and payments related to the recently concluded spectrum auctions, one of the persons cited above said.

“The road shows were concluded last week and the company has decided to take the plunge now. We will know how much they managed to raise by late evening,” said the first person.

However, for the bond sale to go through, the company has to ensure that the pricing of the bond is within 6.5% yield because of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norm that says that the yield companies pay cannot be more than 500 basis points above the London Interbank Offer Rate (Libor). One basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

“R-Com’s bonds will be linked to the 6-month Libor that is now around 1.5%, which means that the final pricing of the issue has to be within 6.5% which is also the initial guidance given by the company,” said the second person cited above.

“If the issue goes above this pricing, then the sale will not happen,” this person added.

Singapore’s DBS Bank Ltd and UK-based Standard Chartered Plc are the two banks managing the sale.

If successful, this will be the third such high-yield issuance from India in 2015, following Delhi International Airport Pvt. Ltd and Lodha Developers Ltd, which raised $288 million and $200 million, respectively.

Lodha paid the highest yield, at 12%, for an Indian company, but the issue was made through a company based outside India which helped it to circumvent RBI norms.

Reliance Communications (RCOM)