NTPC's tax-free bond issue oversubscribed 3.3 times

State-run power major NTPC on Tuesday received an overwhelming response for its bond issue by garnering Rs 3,310 crore, much ahead of its scheduled closing.

"The issue was oversubscribed by 3.3 times. As against Rs 1,000 crore, NTPC has already collected about Rs 3,310 crore, Rs 2,310 crore above the base size," the company said in a statement.

The tax-free bond issue, which opened on Monday was earlier scheduled to close on December 16 but will formally close on Wednesday, according to a company official.

This was the state-run company's first bond issue after a gap of over 20 years. Under the offer, the company issued tax-free secured, redeemable non-convertible bonds.

The base issue size aggregates to Rs 1,000 crore with an option to retain over-subscription up to Rs 750 crore for issuance of additional bonds, aggregating up to Rs 1,750 crore.

The funds raised through the issue would be utilised towards funding of capital expenditure and refinancing for meeting the debt requirement in ongoing projects.

The company in the statement said the qualified institutional buyers (QIB) oversubscribed by 4.2 times, garnering Rs 423 crore against allocation of Rs 100 crore.

"Corporates contributed Rs 1,374 crore against allocation of Rs 250 crore, oversubscribed by 5.5 times," the statement said.

It also said that that high net worth individuals  also chipped in with Rs 851 crore against allocation of Rs 250 crore and over-subscription of 3.4 times.

The company, last month, filed a prospectus with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), Delhi and Haryana in connection with its proposed public issue of tax-free secured redeemable non-convertible bonds, it  said.

The lead managers to the issue are ICICI Securities, A K Capital Services, Axis Capital, SBI Capital Markets and Kotak Mahindra Capital Company.

At present, NTPC has a capacity of nearly 42,000 MW and targets to add about 14,000 MW to its total capacity by the end of 2016-17.

Shares in NTPC, on Tuesday, ended at Rs 145.70 apiece on the BSE, down 1.09 per cent from the previous close.