South Asia

Tata Steel is looking to reprice a $3.1bn refinancing it sealed in 2014 and has asked banks on that deal for feedback. Although the loan is not performing remarkably in secondary, the company will be able to cut costs thanks to its solid banking relationships, said a source who worked on the 2014 borrowing.

Mizuho has emerged as a frontrunner for National Thermal Power Corp’s $100m loan. The company mandated the Japanese bank for its previous fundraising.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)’s subcommittee for developing a municipal bond market has released regulations for the instruments. While the rules provide detailed requirements for listing and issuing muni bonds, many more reforms are needed at the local government level.

The pipeline for offshore Indian loan syndications is showing signs of life, with opportunistic corporate refinancings and more borrowing by housing finance companies pushing dealflow. Bankers expect the second half of the year to be busier than a very quiet first six months, writes Shruti Chaturvedi.

India’s Phoenix Mills, a shopping mall operator, has scooped Rp2.83bn ($45m) from a qualified institutional placement that resounded well with international long-only funds, surprising even those close to the deal with their strong interest.

Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) has mandated a group of three banks for its latest outing in the offshore syndicated loan market. The request for proposals for the new $200m five year bullet was sent out less than a month after the company wrapped up a separate $400m loan.

India has told banks vying for divestment mandates in 10 of its state-owned firms to attend a meeting on July 16 in New Delhi, as the government moves forward with plans to raise about $3bn from the selldowns.

Alok Industries signed its $475m export performance bank guarantee-backed (EPBG) loan on June 30, with a total of eight banks committing to the transaction, following a four month syndication process.

India’s state-owned IIFCL Asset Management Company Limited (IAMCL) has partnered with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to boost investment in India’s renewable energy sector via instruments like green bonds.

By Rahul Ghosh, a Vice President and Senior Research Analyst for Moody's Investors Service.

India's capital markets are finally getting the lease of life that bankers and issuers have long craved. Spurred on by political change that has put enterprise and investment firmly on the agenda, regulators are seeking to revamp an environment that has often appeared more designed to prevent progress than permit it. Hopes are high that the results will be seen in 2015, as Elliot Wilson reports.

An ambitious programme to provide all Indian citizens with housing by 2022 should help bolster India’s fledgling residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) market, which recorded issuance of just Rph53bn (€743m) in 2014. But Moody’s has warned there are tax obstacles for investors looking to participate.