India's Muthoot Finance gives initial guidance for dollar bonds, bankers say

REC

07/05/2024 05:01

MUMBAI, May 7 (Reuters) - India's Muthoot Finance
 MUTT.NS  is planning to raise funds through U.S.
dollar-denominated bonds maturing in three years and nine months
and has provided initial guidance for a coupon of around 7.375%,
two bankers said on Tuesday.
    These Regulation-S dollar bonds are expected to be priced
later in the day or early on Wednesday, the bankers said,
declining to be named as they are not authorised to speak to the
media.
    Muthoot Finance is aiming to issue benchmark-sized bonds,
which means the issuance will be around $500 million.
    The non-banking finance company will use the proceeds for
onward lending and other activities permitted under external
commercial borrowing guidelines.
    Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered are the joint global
coordinators for this dollar bond issue, as well as joint
bookrunners along with DBS Bank and SMBC Nikko.
    The bonds are expected to be rated 'Ba2' by Moody's Investor
Service and 'BB' by Fitch Ratings and S&P.
    Other Indian non-bank lenders such as Manappuram Finance
 MNFL.NS  and state-run REC  RECM.NS  are also looking to raise
funds through a dollar bond issue over the next few days.
    An increasing number of non-bank firms are seeking to raise
funds via overseas borrowings, including bonds and loans, which
is likely an outcome of the Reserve Bank of India's push to
diversify their borrowing sources, Reuters reported in April.

 (Reporting by Bhakti Tambe; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
 ((Bhakti.Tambe@thomsonreuters.com))