Jio Financial Services (JFS), which was recently carved out from Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), is considering its maiden bond issue with a plan to raise up to ₹10,000 crore, a report said on November 20.
The financial services arm of RIL is in talks with merchant bankers, and is planning to launch the issue in the January-March quarter of fiscal year 2023-24, the Reuters report said, citing four bankers who are privy to the development.
The company may target raising ₹5,000 crore to ₹10,000 crore through the bond issue, the bankers reportedly added. JFS was yet to react to the report.
Livemint could not independently verify the development.
Notably, JFS was listed at the stock markets in August. The company faces competition in the Indian financial services sector from rapidly growing firms like Bajaj Finance.
Presently, the company is in the process of obtaining credit rating and other necessary approvals, the bankers who spoke to Reuters said. Their identities were not disclosed.
JFS should file shorter-term commercial papers ahead of the bond issue, two bankers told the news agency, adding that the company should also keep its bank borrowing lines in places.
"Since the company is new, the documentation and compliance will take time, and we could see them coming in before end of March" a merchant banker with a private bank was quoted as saying.
JFS has also been recommended to issue bonds with maturity period of no longer than five years, the bankers reportedly added.
On the pending credit ratings, Venkatakrishnan Srinivasan, founder and managing partner at Rockfort Fincap, was quoted as saying by Reuters that JFS would “automatically get AAA credit rating” due to “strong promoter parentage”.
“While the pricing will depend on factors like tenor and balance sheet size of the company at the time of issue, being an NBFC, it will be 10-20 basis points higher than RIL.”
In the trading session on November 20, JFS' shares settled at ₹215.60 apiece on the BSE, down 2.4 percent as against the previous day's close.
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