Telecom giant Bharti Airtel, on Monday raised about USD 2 billion in a dual currency international bond sale. Bharti Airtel Limited, announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) B.V. (“Bharti”) has successfully priced a dual currency issuance of Guaranteed Senior Notes comprising of USD 1,000 million 5.350 % Notes due 2024 (the "USD Notes") and EURO 750 million 3.375 % Notes due 2021 (the "EURO Notes"). The Notes carry an Investment Grade rating from Moody’s, Standard & Poor and Fitch.

“We are extremely pleased with the outcome of yet another successful credit offering by the company, which is also the first ever dual tranche offering from an Indian Issuer. With this transaction, Bharti is the single largest private issuer out of India. We now have USD 5 billion of Bonds outstanding, across 5,6, 7, 9 and 10 years outstanding tenor across USD, EUR and CHF currency base“, said Harjeet Kohli, Group Treasurer, Bharti Airtel.

“Through this as well as the previous bond issuances, all acquisition finance facilities taken for the acquisition of Zain in 2010, have been successfully refinanced well ahead of their tenure. These issuances have provided access to high quality high grade institutional investor base across US, Europe and Asia, underlining the strength of our business”, Harjeet Kohli added.
 
The Notes will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed by Bharti Airtel. Bharti will apply the net proceeds to refinance its existing debt. This refinancing exercise has significantly lengthened the average maturity profile of Bharti’s debt. With this, the company has fully refinanced the original USD 9 billion acquisition facility and also taken care of all near term maturities.

The success of the dual tranche Euro and USD bond offerings demonstrate the demand for quality Investment Grade Indian paper like Bharti Airtel. The Notes received considerable investor interest, witnessing a strong demand across high quality Institutional Investors, Banks and Insurance companies.

Broad allocation statistics:

USD Notes

· Total Order Book of over USD 9.5 billion – oversubscribed 8X
· Participation by over 550 accounts
· Regional allocation – US- 51%, Europe - 30%, Asia- 19%
· Over 75% allocation to funds, with balance to banks and insurance companies

Euro Notes

· Total Order Book of over EURO 4.75 billion – oversubscribed 5.3X
· Participation by over 400 accounts
· Regional allocation – UK- 44%, Europe ex UK - 45%, Others- 11%
· Over 76% allocation to funds, with balance to banks and real money accounts

The USD Notes have been priced at 270 basis points over 10 year USD Treasury with a fixed coupon of 5.350% per annum to yield 5.361%.

The EURO Notes have been priced at 225 basis points over 7 year EUR Mid Swaps with a fixed coupon of 3.375 % per annum to yield 3.498%.

Barclays, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas, HSBC, JP Morgan and Standard Chartered Bank acted as Joint Lead Managers for the offering.