Mumbai: Nation's largest oil explorer ONGC on Tuesday raised USD 2.214 billion - the largest bond sale from the country - through dual tranche money to fund its overseas arm OVL's Mozambique asset purchase.
The issue involved USD 1.5 billion of dollar money and 525 million in euros (USD 714 million at current exchange rate), merchant bankers said.
They said this is the largest dual currency RegS issuance from Asia, apart from being the first-ever euro issuance from a quasi-sovereign corporate. It is also the first dual currency RegS issuance from the country.
The RegS issue (which is not sold to resident American investors) has three tenures -- USD 750 million of 5-year money and the rest is of 10-year tenor, while the euro issue is a 7-year money, said the merchant bankers, which include RBS, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Standard Chartered and Citigroup.
The company could not be immediately reached for comments.
The issue is also said to have got one of the tightest spreads for issuance across 5-year dollar and 7-year euro issue.
While the dollar issue got an over-subscription of over USD 6 billion, the euro issue got demands worth 1.8 billion more than the platter.
While the 5-year dollar issue got priced at US treasury plus 160 bps (against a guidance of 180 bps), the 10-year issue is priced at T plus 207 bps. The 7-year euro tranche is priced at MS+180 bps.
The effective coupon for these tenures works out to 3.25 percent for the 5 year tranche, 4.625 percent for the 10- year tranche and 2.75 percent for the euro issue.
While 55 percent of the 5-year dollar issue are Asians, the reset 45 percent are European investors, for the 10-year money was lapped up by Europeans (45 percent) and 47 percent by Asians. As much as 78 percent of the euro money was lapped by Europeans and 21 percent by Asians.
ONGC Videsh is the overseas arm of the state-owned ONGC and the money raised will be used to fund its acquisition of 10 percent stake in a giant Mozambique gas field, which it had bought last August for USD 2.6 billion from the US energy major Anadarko Corp.
