Reliance Industries targets $1.5 bn overseas loans

MUMBAI: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), India's largest company by market value, is in talks with banks to arrange as much as $1.5 billion in dollar-denominated loans, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Reliance, controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, plans to borrow $1.1 billion in five-year loans to replace debt maturing in about two years that has higher interest costs, the people said, not wishing to be identified because the terms aren’t set.

The company may obtain another $400 million of new loans, the people said. Reliance, India’s fourth-most indebted company, is looking to borrow at about 165 basis points more than the six-month London interbank offered rate, or Libor, the people said.