SBI raises Rs 4,000 cr via AT1 bonds

Mumbai,  Lending major State Bank of India on Wednesday reported that it has sold Rs 4,000 crore worth of Basel-compliant Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds.

Accordingly, the bank’s ‘AT1’ bonds were issued at a coupon rate of 7.74 per cent.

In financial parlance, AT1 bonds are issued by banks to raise capital to meet the Basel-III norms.

“This is the lowest pricing ever offered on such debt, issued by any bank since the country started implementing the stringent Basel-III capital rules in 2013,” a statement said.

“As the aggregate bids were in excess of Rs 6,000 crore, the Bank exercised the full greenshoe option of Rs 3,000 crore over and above the base issue size of Rs 1,000 crore.”

According to the statement, while SBI has ‘AAA’ credit rating from local credit agencies, its ‘AT1’ offering is rated ‘AA+’, which is the highest rating in the country for these instruments in view of the hybrid and high-risk nature of these instruments.

“This issuance comes after a successful issue of Tier 2 bonds last month by SBI, aggregating to Rs 8,931 crore, at 6.80 per cent, which is again the best ever pricing for Tier 2 debt instruments,” the statement said.

At present, the State Bank of India is the largest commercial bank in terms of assets, deposits, branches, customers, and employees.

It is also the largest mortgage lender in the country.