MUMBAI: Leading public sector lender State Bank of India (SBI) acting through its London Branch, successfully priced at New York yesterday an offering of $1 billion of senior unsecured bonds due 2015.

The offering to be rated Baa2/Stable by Moody’s and BBB-/Stable by S&P was made pursuant to Regulation S under the US Securities Act outside of the United States, and in the United States in a private placement solely to certain qualified institutional buyers in compliance with Rule 144A under the U.S. Securities Act. The Offering was oversubscribed 4.8 times and saw demand from over 350 investors, the Bank said in a statement here today. Commenting on the success of the offering, SBI Chairman O P Bhatt said “This is a signature deal, despite market turbulence and volatility”.
In terms of deal size, order book multiple, diversification into new investors in the US and number and quality of investors, SBI achieved our objectives with this issuance he said, adding, “We believe the success of this transaction will also allow Indian issuers to more easily access the US markets”.
 Having accessed the Regulation S market several times in the past, the offering, being SBI’s debut issuance with a Rule 144A component, allowing it to broaden its debt investor base and to access large, highly capitalised US institutional investors in the private placement market.
The offering was priced at a coupon of 4.50 per cent per annum, similar to the yield on SBI’s previous $750 million bond offering priced in October 2009, despite more volatile market conditions related to the ongoing sovereign debt crises and renewed concerns on a double dip in global economic growth.