Future Retail raises $500 mn from international bond market; proceeds to be utilised to purchase stores

New Delhi: Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail on Wednesday said it has raised $500 million through dollar-denominated bonds. "The company has successfully priced a $500 million Fixed Rate Senior Secured 144A/Reg S Bond for a 5-year (non-call 3-year) tenor at 5.600 percent," the company said in a regulatory fiiing. As per the company, the bond transaction also marks the first international bond deal from the retail and consumer sector space in India. "We are overwhelmed by the strong response of the global investor community which is a testament to our strong credit story. This transaction would help us further diversify our sources of funding, Future Retail Limited (FRL) Joint Managing Director Rakesh Biyani said. [caption id="attachment_2994726" align="alignleft" width="380"]

File image of Kishore Biyani, Future Retail CEO. PTI[/caption]Proceeds from the offering will be utilised to purchase store assets from Future Enterprises Ltd which will help significantly improve EBITDA margin profile of FRL, Biyani added. The company intends to use all of the proceeds to meet the capital expenditure for the acquisition of certain instore retail infrastructure assets from Future Enterprises Limited. The notes will be listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX- ST). "The transaction witnessed 37 percent participation from Asia, 42 percent from the US and 21 percent from EMEA with 84 percent investment from long haul funds, 8 percent from private banks, 5 percent from insurance/pension funds and 3 percent from banks and others," the filing said. It further added that there has been strong demand from most of the blue-chip names amongst the largest funds across the globe. Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Barclays, JP Morgan and UBS acted as Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners on the issue. SBICAP, Credit Suisse, Emirates NBD Capital and Rabobank acted as Joint Bookrunners, while A K Capital acted as Financial Advisor to the Issuer.