Country’s largest telecom firm Bharti Airtel on Wednesday launched an international roadshow for benchmark bond offering as part of its plan to raise nearly a billion dollars through euro bonds, according to merchant bankers. This is the third bond sale by the company this year
“Bharti Airtel launched investor road-shows for a benchmark Euro bond issue today. The roadshows are underway in london, Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt,” a merchant banker told the news agency.
Bharti could not be reached immediately for comments. This is the third major bond sale by domestic companies after the May 24 tapering talk by the US Fed, which spiked interest rates in Western markets. The company’s arm Bharti Airtel International Netherlands is raising the money, which will be fully guaranteed by the parent company.
According to one i-banker, StanChart, Barclays, JP Morgan, UBS and BNP Paribas are the joint book-runners and lead-managers to the issue. In March this year, the company had raised $1.5 billion in overseas debt in two tranches. Meanwhile, Fitch Ratings has assigned BBB- ratings to the proposed senior unsecured Euro notes.