New Delhi :REC Limited today announced that it has successfully raised USD 1.15 billion in August 2023 in two tranches from a consortium of six banks as the mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners (MLABs).
Tranche 1 of USD 505 million was raised from Bank of Baroda, Gujarat International Fin Tec-City (GIFT City) IFSC Banking Unit (IBU); Axis Bank, GIFT City IBU; and State Bank of India, London Branch on August 3, 2023, while Tranche 2 of USD 645 million was raised from State Bank of India, London Branch; Bank of India, GIFT City IBU; Bank of India, London Branch; and HSBC, GIFT City IBU on August 31, 2023.
Both tranches, taken together, saw an aggregate commitment of USD 550 million from GIFT City IFSC Banking Units (IBUs). This is the highest ever commitment to REC from GIFT City IBUs in a single month, surpassing the earlier largest commitment of USD 345 million in December 2021.
The loans have been tied up for a 5-year tenor and are benchmarked to Overnight SOFR (Secured Overnight Financing Rate), which is the benchmark rate for the loans denominated in USD. The proceeds from this facility shall be utilised to fund power, infrastructure, and logistics sector projects as permitted under the ECB guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India. The funds have been raised under REC’s market borrowing programme of Rs. 1.20 lakh crore for the years 2023–24.
Commenting on the successful closure of the USD Term Loans REC Limited, Chairman and Managing Director Vivek Kumar Dewangan said, “EC has been actively looking for various innovative options to diversify its sources of borrowing to lower its cost of borrowing. The successful closure of these two transactions within a single month is a testimony to the strong financials of REC Ltd. and continues to make it attractive to international lenders.
We are pleased with the overwhelming response of banks to these loans, which is also our largest single-month fund-raising from GIFT City IBUs. This also reinforces REC’s positioning as the largest PSU borrower from international markets during the current year, he added.
