Reliance to raise $5 bn to retire existing debts

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries on Saturday said it will raise as much as $5 billion in foreign currency-denominated bonds and use the proceeds to retire existing borrowings.

In a stock exchange filing, the company said the Finance Committee of the company board at its meeting on Saturday approved a "proposal for issuance of senior unsecured US Dollar-denominated fixed-rate notes from time to time, for an aggregate amount up to $5 billion, in one or more tranches".

"The proceeds from the issuance of the Notes will be utilised primarily for refinancing of existing borrowings, in accordance with the applicable law," it added.

The bond sale is poised to become the single largest such borrowing by an Indian company.

While the company did not divulge details on either the timing or the pricing of the bonds, it is expected that the 10-year debt may be offered at about 110 to 130 basis points over the US Treasury benchmark, and the 30-year debt may be at 130 to 140 basis points over similar-maturity Treasuries.

Ambani's firm has unveiled ambitious plans for a foray into the new energy business while rapidly expanding its digital and retail ventures.

It said on Friday that its subsidiary Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd (RNESL) has signed definitive agreements to acquire UK-based sodium-ion battery technology company Faradion for an enterprise value of £100 million.

Photograph: Sandip Mahankal/ANI Photo