After 6 months Axis Bk becomes top corp bond arranger Feb
Informist, Thursday, Mar 28, 2024
By Asmita Patil and Abhinaba Saha
MUMBAI – After a gap of six months, Axis Bank returned to the top as the leading corporate bond arranger in February, mobilising 98.22 bln rupees through 20 deals. The country's third-largest private bank single-handedly arranged five deals worth 37.87 bln rupees for Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Housing Finance.
ICICI Bank overtook HDFC Bank to reach the second position by arranging 31 deals worth 64.20 bln rupees in February. The bank had slipped to seventh position in January. ICICI Bank solely arranged four deals worth 18.75 bln rupees for HDB Financial Services, Aditya Birla Finance, and Godrej Industries.
HDFC Bank, which was a close second in January to SBI Capital Markets, took the third spot, managing 12 deals aggregating 37.40 bln rupees last month. The bank solely arranged a bond deal worth 13 bln rupees for LIC Housing Finance.
AK Capital Services also slipped a spot lower to fourth in February by arranging 19 deals worth 24.86 bln rupees in February. The merchant banker solely arranged deals worth 10.94 bln rupees for CanFin Homes, IIFL Samasta Finance, Axis Finance, and Satya MicroCapital.
ICICI Securities Primary Dealership was a close fifth, arranging 16 deals worth 24.44 bln rupees in February. It was the sole arranger for a bond deal by Tata Capital worth 1.05 bln rupees.
Most of the bond arrangers jointly participated in big-ticket issuances of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, Export-Import Bank of India, Small Industries Development Bank of India, Power Finance Corp, REC, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, Indian Railway Finance Corp, and Canara Bank.
Funds worth 1.02 trln rupees were raised through private placements of corporate bonds in February, against 724 bln rupees in January, according to data from the National Securities Depository and Informist.
Of the total, public sector companies raised 380.2 bln rupees in February, up from 269.2 bln rupees raised in January. NABARD was the biggest issuer, raising 104.1 bln rupees through two bonds, followed by Power Finance Corp at 66 bln rupees.
Private non-banking finance companies and housing finance companies were the other big issuers in February, raising 228 bln rupees through private placement of bonds. Among private non-banking finance companies, Bajaj Finance was the biggest borrower, raising 60.67 bln rupees through three bonds, followed by LIC Housing Finance at 42.43 bln rupees.
Traction from banks eased during the month with only Canara Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and ESAF Small Finance Bank raising funds from the market. Canara Bank raised 20 bln rupees through the issue of Basel-III-compliant additional tier-I bonds, and Kotak Mahindra Bank raised 10 bln rupees through infrastructure bonds maturing in seven years at a coupon of 7.6%.
The following is a list of corporate bond arrangers, in order of quantum arranged, in February:
ARRANGER
ISSUES ARRANGED (SOLELY OR JOINTLY)
AMOUNT ARRANGED
(IN BLN RUPEES)
Axis Bank
20
98.22
ICICI BANK
31
64.20
HDFC BANK
12
37.40
AK CAPITAL SERVICES
19
24.86
ISEC-PD
16
24.44
SBI CAPITAL MARKETS
10
21.55
TRUST INVESTMENT ADVISORS
25
19.63
YES BANK
13
14.30
PNB GILTS
14
12.93
TIPSONS FINANCIAL SERVICES
11
5.80
LKP SECURITIES
4
1.30
OTHERS
695.37*
TOTAL
1,020.00
End
NOTES:
* Based on data compiled by Informist from published news reports
* May not include all the deals struck during the month/quarter
* Banker who arranged highest quantum of deals, irrespective of number of deals, is ranked first
* Deals executed directly with investors are not considered
