Rs 2,150 crore Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board Masala!

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) on Friday successfully completed its debut international issue by closing its Rs 2,150 crore Masala Bond issue.

An official release issued by KIIFB said this is a landmark International Debt Capital Markets transaction as this is not just the 1st offshore capital market issuance from a state-level entity from India ever, but also the largest dual currency issue by a sub-sovereign backed entity from the entire Emerging Markets and Asia.

The transaction was priced on March 26, 2019 and saw strong participation from a wide spectrum of investors which included Asset Managers, Insurance Companies Pension Funds, Banks as well as Private Wealth Managers.

The Masala Bond market till date had seen issuance only from large Indian corporates and public institutions like NHAI and NTPC which are all rated AAA in the domestic market.

The successful closing of this deal is significant from this point of view and opens up new avenues for KIIFB. The deal is also significant for the state as the international investors have shown faith in a credit backed by a sub-sovereign from the emerging markets for the first time.

Dr. K.M. Abraham, CEO, KIIFB said: “This landmark deal, the first by a sub-sovereign from the emerging markets, has shown the acceptability among international investors, the controlled leverage model of infrastructure financing championed by this government through KIIFB.”