State Bank of India receives $1.9bn bids for bond issue

The lender got 8.5 times the value of its target of its $223.2mn issue aimed to meet its assets growth.

State Bank of India, the country's largest lender, received subscriptions for 85.8 billion rupees ($1.9 billion) for a bond sale, or more than 8.5 times the minimum on offer, two sources with direct knowledge told Reuters on Tuesday.

The state-run bank aimed to raise 10 billion rupees ($223.16 million), with a greenshoe option for an equal amount.

However, the bank said in its prospectus it had the option to retain up to 100 billion rupees ($2.23 billion) if subscriptions from retail investors were more.

The bank, which along with its associates controls about a quarter of all loans in India, is raising the money to meet its assets growth. Demand for loans in India expanded 23.9 percent on year as of Feb. 11.

Retail investors put in bids for 45.72 billion rupees ($1.02 billion), compared with the minimum 5 billion rupees ($111.58 million) offered, said the sources who could not be identified as they were not authorised to speak to media.

For rich, or high net worth, individuals, the subscription was 5.08 billion rupees ($113.37 million) and for qualified institutional buyers it was 35.01 billion rupees ($781.3 million), compared with the minimum offer of 2.5 billion rupees each (455.79 million), they said.

"These are provisional figures as there are some more applications left," said one source.

View the full story in Reuters.