Reliance Industries raises $4 billion in India's biggest forex bond deal

By Scott Murdoch

HONG KONG (Reuters) -Reliance Industries Ltd has raised $4 billion in U.S dollar bonds, in the country's largest ever foreign currency bond deal, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters.

The Indian conglomerate raised $1.5 billion in a 10-year tranche, $1.75 billion in a 30-year and $750 million in a 40-year deal.

Orders for the deal reached $7.25 billion and each of the tranches was primarily bought by Asian investors, the term sheet showed.

It was the largest ever foreign currency bond transaction in India, according to Dealogic figures, eclipsing the previous record set by ONGC Videsh in 2014 when it raised $2.2 billion in U.S. dollar bonds.

Part of the cash raised by Reliance will be used to refinance $1.5 billion worth of debt due to mature in February, the term sheet said.

Reliance did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

But it confirmed the fundraising in a statement to stock exchanges on Thursday. Reliance said the proceeds from the issuance of notes will be utilised primarily for refinancing of existing borrowings, adding that the notes were nearly three times oversubscribed with peak orderbook aggregating $11.5 billion.

(Reporting by Scott Murdoch; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)