Axis to mop up $500 million through MTNs

Axis Bank has raised $500 million in bonds as part of its $5 billion global mediumterm note programme.

The bank has managed to obtain a finer pricing as it offered about 25 basis points less than what it had planned initially. The dollar-denominated bonds yielded 3.11% as it added a spread or mark-up of 130 basis points over and above the fiveyear US Treasury yields.

Institutional investors from Asia, Africa, Europe and the US have invested in the paper, said an investment banker familiar with the matter.

"We have received overwhelming investor response across the regions with more than 150 of them showing interest," said Shashikant Rathi, head of treasury at Axis Bank.

"We have managed to price the bonds below the comparable secondary market level yields. We have not paid any new-issue premium." "We will use the proceeds to refinance our existing overseas liability," he said.

The bank has garnered an order book going up to $1.80 billion since the beginning of the sales process. But, it rejected the oversubscription part.