17 August, 2016
Allen & Overy has advised Export-Import Bank of India (EXIM) on its inaugural USD1 billion Rule 144A/Reg S bond issue.
EXIM is wholly owned by the Indian government and is India’s premier export finance institution. The bond deal attracted strong interest from US investors, which have previously had little access to Indian sovereign credit.
The issuance, which closed on 5 August, was completed under EXIM’s USD10 billion Global Medium Term Note Program, which Allen & Overy recently helped to establish.
The proceeds from the bond offering will be used by EXIM to provide funding for export lines of credit and buyer’s credit granted by EXIM to overseas governments, banks, institutions and other entities; loans for overseas investment and/or participation in equity of overseas joint ventures; and import of capital goods by export-oriented units.
Commenting, Allen & Overy partner Amit Singh said: “We were delighted to assist EXIM with this landmark bond issue. The transaction showcases two of our core strengths – our US-qualified capital markets team’s experience in supporting Rule 144A offerings and our market-leading credentials advising on offerings by Indian issuers.
As the Indian government has never issued sovereign bonds, we were not surprised by the strong US interest. EXIM is wholly government-owned and as such this represents a close proxy to a sovereign bond issuance.”
The Allen & Overy team was led by Amit Singh with support from lawyers Michele Discepola, Debolina Saha and Grace Yumul.
