Ambani's Jio plans its biggest bond in debt-market return

Mumba

BILLIONAIRE Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio Infocomm, India's largest mobile phone carrier, is planning its biggest-ever rupee bond sale as it targets gains in market share.

The company was seeking commitments on Tuesday (Jan 4) for as much as 50 billion rupees (S$908 million) of notes maturing in 5 years at a coupon of 6.20 per cent, according to sources.

Jio last tapped the local-currency bond market in July 2018, and is planning to use the proceeds from the current proposed deal to refinance financial liabilities. Jio's entry into the wireless market in 2016 with free calls and ultra-cheap data, unleashed a tariff war in the country and shrank the telecom space from a dozen players to 3 private sector operators as others exited, merged or went bankrupt.

The top-rated firm is coming to the debt market as the nation's central bank drains excess liquidity from the banking system as it normalises policy, pushing borrowing costs for AAA graded 5-year corporate debt to near a 9-month high. BLOOMBERG