ICICI Bank sets initial guidance for first dollar bond in nearly 9 years, bankers say

ICICI Bank is set to raise at least 500 million dollars through a five-year dollar bond, its first such issuance in nearly nine years. Initial pricing guidance is set at a spread of 130 basis points over the corresponding US Treasury yield, with bankers expecting around 30 bps compression before pricing by end-Friday. The offering, rated Baa3 by Moody's and BBB by S&P, is being sold through the bank's GIFT City branch and benefits from the RBI's recent swap facility that allows eligible external commercial borrowings to be hedged at a fixed rate of 1.5 percent per annum.