Bharti Airtel is reportedly planning to hold an investor roadshow for a potential US$1bn bond.
The Indian mobile carrier has picked seven foreign banks in Asia, Europe and the US to arrange meetings with investors, according to two sources cited by…
Bharti Airtel is reportedly planning to hold an investor roadshow for a potential US$1bn bond.
The Indian mobile carrier has picked seven foreign banks in Asia, Europe and the US to arrange meetings with investors, according to two sources cited by Reuters.
Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Standard Chartered and UBS are understood to be the arrangers.
Fitch has awarded the proposed notes, which the ratings agency says will be used to refinance part of its existing debt and for general corporate purposes, a ‘BBB-(EXP)’ rating.
Sarvjit Dhillon, CFO of parent company Bharti Enterprises, had previously said that the Airtel unit was hoping to raise up to US$1bn this fiscal year which ends in March.
Back in 2011, Bharti Airtel had met with investors to raise US$1bn from a bond sale, but decided not to go ahead with the offering at the time.
An analyst at an Indian brokerage told TelecomFinance today that he thought the bond would be much more attractive to investors by being issued overseas, as there is already a lot of debt in the local market.
Another analyst agreed that there would be a lot of interest in the bond, depending on pricing.
Bharti Airtel had total debt of US$13.6bn and cash and equivalents of US$1.9bn at the end of December 2012, according to Fitch.
