India's Jio rakes in USD 750m through offshore loan

Indian telecommunications major Reliance Jio Infocomm is raising INR 57 billion (USD 750 million) through an offshore syndicated loan to primarily fund future Capex needs, reports Economic Times.

The report quoted unnamed sources with direct knowledge of the matter saying that the likes of Bank of America, Credit Agricole, HSBC, State Bank of India, and three Japanese banks — MUFG, Mizuho, and SMBC – are slated to syndicate the five-year offshore loan likely to be priced after adding 120-130 basis points over the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) — a new global rate gauge.

According to the ET Telecom report, the loan agreement between the banks and Reliance Jio might be signed this week itself.

The report said that Jio, a unit of Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries, might use some proceeds from the fundraise for refinancing the short-term bridge loans, which were raised through commercial papers. Further, a part of the proceeds might also go towards the Capex needs of 5G in urban cities.

The subsidiary of Jio Platforms raised about INR 80 billion (USD 1.05 billion) by promoting company bonds in native cash markets in January to primarily clear a portion of previous dues relating to spectrum purchases within the 2014 and 2015 auctions.