Muthoot Finance raises Rs 3.9k crore via bonds

Mumbai: Gold loan financier Muthoot Finance on Friday said it has raised Rs 3,900 crore (around Rs $550 million) through dollar bond, offering a coupon of 4.4 per cent.

The proceeds of the issue will be used for towards lending, the company said in a release. Last year in October, it had raised $450 million through its maiden three-year bond.

"The response from international bond investors in our second issue is quite overwhelming. This fund raiser will enable us in further diversifying and strengthening our sources of funding," its chairman M G George Muthoot said.

The transaction saw 37 per cent participation from Asia, 13 per cent from Europe and 50 per cent from the US. The bond was launched with an initial pricing guidance of 4.75 per cent on February 20, but with a strong demand from investors, the company was able to tighten pricing by 35 basis points to 4.4 per cent, the release said.

Around 89 per cent of investments came from fund managers, six per cent from private banks, three per cent from insurance and banks and two per cent from others. The bonds will be listed on International Securities Market of the London Stock Exchange.

Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered Bank acted as the global coordinators and book runners for the issue.