Indian Railway Finance Corporation Limited (IRFC) has become the first Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) to exclusively list its Green Offshore Bonds at Indian stock exchanges.
IRFC, the dedicated market borrowing arm of the Indian Railways, has launched its USD 500 million 144A/Reg S USD Bonds under the 7 billion Global Medium Term Note (GMTN) Programme rated at par with the sovereign, with exclusive listing at India INX and NSE-IFSC.
IRFC is the first CPSE to list its offshore bonds exclusively at Indian stock exchanges established in the GIFT City, Gandhinagar.
The bonds were issued in a single tranche of 10 year. The order book of the USD 500 million 10-year tranche was over-subscribed to the tune of 2.4 times.
In the current highly uncertain volatile conditions, the bonds have been priced very tightly over the 10-year benchmark UST on account of superior credit quality of IRFC.
Even in volatile market conditions this year, IRFC managed to price the deal at negligible new issue concession over their existing secondary.
The captioned bonds issuance received strong response from the US, Asia, Europe and EMEA.
The investors ranged from Sovereign funds, Investment Funds, Pension Funds, Insurance funds, Asset Management Companies, Banks and Hedge funds spread across the globe.
IRFC’s USD 144A/Reg S Bonds are Green Bonds issued under IRFC’s Green Framework for Green Debt Financing with exclusive listing being done at INX and NSE-IFSC.
Speaking on the exclusive listing, Mr Amitabh Banerjee, Chairman and Managing Director, IRFC said: “IRFC’s return to the bond market and the overwhelming support from international investors underscores the confidence in IRFC as the premier quasi-sovereign issuer in the country.”
Banerjee further said the listing of Green Offshore Bonds by IRFC will give impetus to other CPSEs and other SOEs across India to follow the same path and proceed with exclusive listing at Indian Stock Exchanges.