REC Limited Raises USD 500 Million Through Bonds

REC Limited has successfully raised USD 500 million 5.5-year Reg-S only bonds issued under its Global Medium Term Programme of USD 7 billion. Proceeds of the bond will be used to finance power projects following the approvals granted by the RBI from time to time and under the ECB Guidelines.

This is REC Limited’s eighth venture into the international bond market. The 5.5-year benchmark has a semi-annual coupon of 2.25 percent per annum and a maturity date of 1 September 2026, which is the most tightly priced bond from the India NBFI space in the 5-year tenor bucket. The transaction was priced inside the fair value of the existing secondary curve of REC USD bonds and is the lowest coupon ever achieved by REC in the USD bond market.

As a frequent issuer in the market and given the stable market backdrop last week, REC decided to capitalize on the environment to carry out an intraday execution with a global investor call organized on the day of launch. At the peak of the order book before Final Price Guidance (FPG), the order book crossed USD 2 billion. Finally, the transaction saw an oversubscription of more than 2 times with active participation from quality accounts. The transaction evidences strong demand and confidence from investors around the globe towards REC Limited’s differentiated credit. Over 82 investors participated in the transaction, with Asian investors taking up 71 percent of the deal, European investors 25 percent, and others 4 percent. Over 85 percent of the deal was taken up by Fund Managers, Insurance Companies, Pension Funds, and Sovereign.

Commenting on the success of bond issuance, Chairman and Managing Director of REC, Mr. Sanjay Malhotra, IAS stated, “We are very delighted on the successful launch and completion of this transaction. A strong response to REC issuance demonstrated faith in the growth story of the Indian Power sector. REC’s bond offer attracted wide participation from international investors across Asia & Europe thereby helping us price the transaction at the lowest USD bond coupon and reduce our overall cost of funding”.REC 500 Million

Barclays, HSBC, MUFG, and Standard Chartered Bank are the joint book-runners for the issue.

Earlier in January 2021, REC owned subsidiary REC Power Distribution Company Limited had issued a tender, inviting bids from its empaneled agencies, for providing bid assistance to the firm as it intends to participate in the tender for setting up ISTS-connected solar PV power projects in Karnataka under tariff-based competitive bidding.