HPCL raises $500 million via bonds in foreign markets

HPCL raised the money from investors in Asia, Europe and the Middle East to fund capital expenditure for ongoing and future domestic projects, the company said in a press statement here.

"This is HPCL's inaugural foray into the international bond market. The 10-year benchmark has a semi-annual coupon of 4 per cent per annum and a maturity date of July 12, 2027," it said.

The bonds offers investors a spread of 167.5 basis points over the US Treasury (UST) yield.

The issue received orders for more than $3 billion with over 225 investors consisting of very high quality accounts.

The notes are rated Baa3 by Moody's and BBB- by Fitch.

"At UST 167.5 basis points, this represents the tightest priced public issuance for 10-year $bond issue from the Indian oil and gas sector sector and represents the tightest 10-year spread paid by an Indian corporate in the last decade in the international bond markets," the statement said.

The Notes will be listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX-ST)

Commenting on the occasion, Mukesh Kumar Surana, the Chairman and Managing Director of HPCL, said, "The issue has been oversubscribed by 6 times and managed to achieve a very strong price compression of 32.5 basic points from initial price guidance.

"It underscores investor's confidence in HPCL and establishes HPCL as one of the sought-after Indian state-owned enterprises credit in the international bond markets".

Citigroup, DBS Bank Ltd, MUFG, SBICAP and Standard Chartered Bank acted as joint book runners and joint lead managers for the issue.

HPCL is a Global Fortune 500 company with majority holding with Government of India. With a turnover of $33 Billion it enjoys Navratna status among Indian PSUs. pti

ONGC's overseas arm OVL will bid for blocks in Lebanon's first oil and gas exploration and production licensing round, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday.

ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) was pre-qualified to bid as an operator for five offshore blocks (1,4,8,9 and 10).

Pradhan, who is leading a delegation to the World Petroleum Congress in Istanbul, in a Twitter post said he held a bilateral meeting with Lebanese Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil on the sidelines of the conference.

"The meeting was important in the context of @ongcvideshltd participation in the upcoming bid round for offshore gas fields in Lebanon," he said in another tweet.

Besides OVL, Lebanon has pre-qualified 12 other companies including Chevron, Total and Exxon Mobil as operators for the bid round that has been stalled for years due to political uncertainty.

More than three dozen companies have been pre-qualified as non-operators for the bid round. These companies have to submit their bids to the Lebanese Petroleum Administration on September 15.

The blocks on offer include three bordering Israeli water.

Lebanon, along with Cyprus, Israel and Egypt, sits on the Levant basin in the Mediterranean where gas fields have been discovered since 2009.

Other companies pre-qualified as operators include Petrobras of Brazil, Total of France, Italy's Eni, Petronas of Malaysia, Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil of Norway, Repsol of Spain, Inpex of Japan, Chevron and ExxonMobil.

Non-operators include Cairn India and Cairn Energy of UK.