South Asia

Power Finance Corp netted $500m from a bond that was printed at a negative new issue premium, but still attracted investors for the yield it offered compared to peers.

Asia’s loans bankers are salivating over the prospects of working on the largest ever leveraged buyout loan from India. Blackstone is looking to exit from IT services company Mphasis in a deal that has seen plenty of interest from other private equity firms. Pan Yue reports.

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise has raised around Rp11.7bn ($160m) from a qualified institutional placement, drawing a swell of demand that pushed pricing above the floor.

Sequoia Capital-backed Indigo Paints has fixed the price band for its up to Rp11.7bn ($159.9m) IPO, which is set to open next week.

ONGC Videsh (OVL), the overseas arm of India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp, has decided to cancel general syndication for its $700m loan after the bookrunners found enough liquidity during a senior stage.

Indian Railway Finance Corp (IRFC) will hit the market next week with the country’s first IPO of the year. It is on track to raise up to Rp46.33bn ($633.7m).

The National Highways Authority of India has picked banks for the potential Rp50bn ($680.5m) IPO of an infrastructure investment trust, according to a source close to the deal.

State Bank of India successfully raised $600m with a bond issue underwritten by leading investment banks on Wednesday, just weeks after big investors divested from its green bonds because of its apparent intention to finance the controversial Carmichael coal mine being developed in Australia.

Asian loans bankers are expressing guarded optimism about their prospects this year. Most of their hopes are so far concentrated on India, where a mix of public and private sector deals — as well as the occasional sponsor financing — should bring some welcome supply.

Indian borrowers re-entered the bond market on Monday, led by the Export-Import Bank of India which printed the country’s first dollar deal of 2021.

The Asian dollar bond market reopened with a bang on Monday as six borrowers launched new transactions, with DCM bankers preparing for a busy January.

Dollar bond sales from India have seen a last minute pick-up before the year-end, with three firms pricing their deals in the past week. Indian companies, like the rest of the region, faced hurdles in accessing offshore funding this year, but bankers are optimistic about 2021. Morgan Davis reports.