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India Billionaires Mount Dollar-Debt Rush After Nation's Upgrade

Indian billionaires took to selling international bonds post-Moody’s India upgrade.

India Billionaires Mount Dollar-Debt Rush After Nation's Upgrade
U.S. dollar and Indian rupee banknotes are arranged for a photograph in Mumbai, India. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Indian borrowers are wasting no time in selling international bonds after a sovereign rating upgrade Friday pushed yield premiums on the country’s dollar notes near a decade low.

India’s largest company Reliance Industries Ltd., rated the same as the sovereign, just opened books for a 10-year bond to refinance existing debt, according to a person familiar with the offering. That would be its first dollar note this year. Adani Abbot Point Terminal Pty, an Australian coal logistics supplier owned by Indian infrastructure giant Adani Group, kicks off investor meetings Monday for a dollar note, a person familiar with the plans said. Rural Electrification Corp. also hired banks for a $400 million bond deal, people familiar said.

India Billionaires Mount Dollar-Debt Rush After Nation's Upgrade

The average spread on dollar bonds from India over U.S. Treasuries compressed 4.3 basis points on Friday, to 208.5 basis points, after Moody’s Investors Service raised India’s sovereign rating for the first time since 2004. The drop took the risk premium near the lowest level since 2007, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. indexes.

--With assistance from Annie Lee and Mariko Ishikawa

To contact the reporter on this story: Lianting Tu in Hong Kong at ltu4@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Neha D'silva at ndsilva1@bloomberg.net, Chan Tien Hin, Christopher Anstey

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