ICICI Bank Mobilizes $1.5bn Syndicated Loan

Mumbai: ICICI Bank on September 4 signed agreements with 28 banks for $1.5 billion three-tranche loans. This is the largest offshore syndicated loan financing by a financial institution. This loan facility is split into three tranches of $500 million each, with a tenure of 364-day tranche (tranche A), three-year tranche (tranche B) and five-year tranche (tranche C). Tranche C will be repayable in two equal installments at the end of 4.5 years and five years and hence shall have an average maturity of 4.75 years. The bank is expected to price the one-year loan at 27 basis points over the London interbank offer rate (Libor) for yen, two-year loan at 44 basis points over Libor and three-year loan at 65 basis points over Libor. The bank did not disclose the coupon rates it has agreed to pay. Being a dual currency loan, the bank can draw the loan either in dollars or Japanese yen. ICICI Bank said new players have participated in this deal both at the mandated lead arrangers (MLA) level and general syndication. BNP Paribas, Bayerische Landesbank, Calyon, COMMERZBANK, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Intesa Sanpaolo, Natixis, Standard Chartered Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation were the arrangers for the syndication. ICICI''s offshore senior debt is rated BBB-minus by Standard & Poor''s Ratings Services. The loan programme comes close on the heels of ICICI Bank raising around Rs 20,000 crore through a follow-on public issue and from overseas market through issuance of American depository receipts. The bank had raised a yen-denominated loan of $1 billion in December 2006 and ¤500 million in March 2007 to meet its lending requirements. It raised another £350 million in May this year through a medium term notes (MTN) issue.