SBI lists maiden issue of $300 million Formosa bonds on India INX

State Bank of India (SBI) said on Friday that it has issued $300 million Formosa bonds and listed the issuance on India INX GIFT IFSC. This is the first such issuance by any Indian Bank in Formosa Bond market. Formosa bond is a bond issued in Taiwan.

Commenting on the listing, V. Balasubramaniam, MD and CEO, INDIA INX said, "We are delighted to be the first Exchange in IFSC to list Formosa Bonds issued by SBI, we thank SBI team for continually reposing this trust on our platform and congratulate them on their success."

"SBI was the first issuer whose Green bonds were dually listed in November 2021 on Luxembourg Stock Exchange through a MOU that has been entered into by both Exchanges. With this, our total bond listings are now over $34.5 + billion with the total medium-term notes established to the tune of $58+ billion, making our exchange the platform of choice for issuers of foreign currency bonds," he added.

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Ashwini Kumar Tewari, Managing Director, SBI said, "This issuance was at the tightest spread ever for a 5- year public issuance by an Indian financial institution, which demonstrates the strong investor base SBI has created for itself in the offshore capital markets allowing it to venture in to new markets."

SBI had on January 13 said that it raised $300 million from Regulation S Formosa bonds at a coupon of 2.49 per cent. The state-owned bank, through its London branch, raised $300 million in five-year money, which was benchmarked against the five-year US Treasury. It was priced at a spread of 100 basis points (bps) over the benchmark, SBI had said in a statement.

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The bonds were to be listed on Taipei Exchange (TPEx), Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd (SGX-ST) and India International Exchange IFSC Ltd (India INX).

SBI further stated that the transaction received an overwhelming response and saw strong interest from investors across geographies.

A wide range of investors such as supranational agencies, assets managers, private bankers and financial institutions have invested in the issue. On the back of strong demand, the price guidance was revised from T+130 bps area to T+100 bps, the statement added.