Reliance raises $250 mn overseas loan

Reliance Industries Ltd on Wednesday concluded a $250 million international syndicated loan at 90 basis points over London Inter-Bank Offered Rate.

The proceeds of the loan, the first such transaction concluded after the recent liberalisation of ECB guidelines by the finance minister and upgrade of India's sovereign rating to investment grade by Moody's, will be used to refinance its existing higher cost debt, banking sources said in Mumbai.

The syndicated loan with a maturity of 60 months received an overwhelming response from arranger banks including ANZ, Bank of America, Credity Lyonnais, DBS and HSBC, sources said.

RIL's pricing on the syndicated loan is finer than the one obtained by ICICI Bank on its international bond offering in October last year when it sold bonds aggregating $300 million at 125 basis points over Libor, the sources added.