State Bank of India raised USD 500 million through an international bond sale of five- year bonds at a coupon of 3.306 percent per annum and getting oversubscribed three times. "The pricing offers a spread of 145 bps over the five-year US treasury, which is equivalent to a price of 99.744 percent yielding 3.306 percent per annum," SBI said in a note late evening after successfully closing the issue through its London branch.

The order book came in at USD 1.5 billion for an offer of USD 500 million, SBI said, adding the issue has been rated at investment grade by all the three big rating agencies. The offering which will be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange will be denominated in US dollars and will bear fixed interest of 3.25 percent per annum with interest payable semi-annually in arrears. 5 Best Equity Mutual Fund Schemes From SBI

The bonds will mature on January 24, 2022, the bank said, adding the just concluded bond sale is part of its USD 10-billion medium-term note programme under which is has already raised USD 3.5 billion.

"The transaction saw strong interest from investors across geographies with an order book in excess of USD 1.5 billion across 170 accounts, underscoring SBI's strong credit profile and its position as the nation's largest bank," the bank said. On the successful pricing of the issue, chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said, "We are pleased to see the robust demand for our transaction and the strong perception of our credit by the international investor community." "The execution process was swift and ensured a strong momentum to our transaction.

The lead managers have provided us with the right pricing strategy to help us achieve our targets for this fund raising exercise," she added, reports PTI.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, HSBC, BNP Paribas, DBS Bank, MUFG and SBI Capital Markets acted as joint lead managers to the issue. The benchmark issue, under RegS of the US Securities Commission regulations, has got investment grade ratings from all the three big three international rating agencies.

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