Bond Club: ICICI Bank retains top spot as corp bond arranger in April
Informist, Friday, May 19, 2023
By Asmita Patil and Parth Singh
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI – ICICI Bank retained its position as the top corporate bond arranger in April by managing 23 bond deals aggregating 94.15 bln rupees, according to data compiled by Informist. This was the second consecutive month in which the bank emerged as the top corporate bond arranger.
In April, India's second-largest private sector bank was the sole arranger for bond issuances by LIC Housing Finance, Sundaram Home Finance, and Kotak Mahindra Prime aggregating 13.50 bln rupees. Apart from the solely managed deals, the bank jointly arranged mobilisation of 20 bln rupees for Housing Development Finance Corp and 17.55 bln rupees for HDB Financial Services.
HDFC Bank was at the second spot for the third consecutive month in April. The largest private sector bank by business arranged a total of 10 deals worth 61.37 bln rupees during the month.
Axis Bank, which slipped out of the top three positions in March, secured the third position in April by arranging nine deals worth 36.48 bln rupees. The bank solely arranged a deal worth 17.30 bln rupees for LIC Housing Finance.
ICICI Securities Primary Dealership came fourth, managing 12 bond issuances totalling 26.63 bln rupees, followed by Trust Investment Advisors with 16 deals worth 20.37 bln rupees.
In April, fundraising through the private placement of corporate bonds surged 110% on year to 527.76 bln rupees, as the cost of borrowing eased after the Reserve Bank of India unexpectedly decided to stand pat on interest rates, according to data sourced from the National Securities Depository and compiled by Informist.
Nonetheless, the fundraising in April was 48% lower than the 1.02 trln rupees raised in March. Typically, fundraising increases in March as companies rush to complete their borrowing programme ahead of the end of the financial year.
In early April, corporate bond yields moved in a tight range ahead of the RBI's monetary policy review. However, yields fell after the central bank kept the policy repo rate unchanged at 6.50%.
Yields on bonds issued by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, considered a benchmark in the corporate bond market, fell 14-17 basis-point across tenures during the month.
Following is a list of corporate bond arrangers in order of the quantum arranged in April:
ARRANGERS
ISSUES ARRANGED (SOLELY OR JOINTLY)
AMOUNT ARRANGED (IN BLN RUPEES)
ICICI Bank
23
94.15
HDFC Bank
10
61.37
Axis Bank
9
36.48
I-SEC PD
12
26.63
Trust Investment Advisors
16
20.37
A.K. Capital Services
17
17.54
YES Bank
8
15.5
Tipsons Financial Services
9
6.3
LKP Securities
2
1.25
Others
248.18*
TOTAL
527.76
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 the highest quantum of deals, irrespective of the number of deals, is ranked first
* Deals executed directly with investors are not considered
