MUMBAI: Shriram Finance, the largest vehicle funding-focused non-bank, has raised $468 million in multi-currency social loan from overseas lenders, making it the largest-ever syndicated debt external commercial borrowing by a domestic non-bank.
In a statement on Monday, the Shriram group flagship said the syndicated term loan includes a 425 million in US dollars and 40 million in euros, and is its largest syndicated loan transaction. Earlier Shriaram Finance had $404 million.
The three-year forex loan facility is structured as a social loan and has been anchored by the French lender BNP Paribas, the Singaporean lender DBS Bank, the British banking major Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation and the Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.
This base amount of this multi-currency deal was $200 million with a green-shoe option but since the transaction had a bumper response from syndication market, the final lender group expanded to 16 lenders from across the world-- Europe, the US, North Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Mauritius--offering $468 million equivalent, the company said.
Shriram Finance offers commercial vehicles, two-wheeler loans, car loans, home loans, gold loans, personal and small business loans. As of march 2024 its loan book stood at Rs 2,24,862 crore and its executive vice-chairman Umesh Revankar told TNIE in a recent interview that he expected 15 percent growth in fresh loan sales this fiscal.
“We are enthused by the robust participation from lenders across geographies for this external commercial borrowing, which is the largest syndicated multi-currency transaction by a private sector non-banking company. Being a social loan this reflects our commitment to social impact similar to our priority sector initiatives, with certain strict exclusions,” Revankar siad.
Rajat Verma, the managing director and head of institutional banking group at DBS Bank India said this landmark social loan demonstrates our shared commitment to supporting social outcomes and driving positive impact.
Chetan Joshi, the managing director and head of debt finance at HSBC India, said this is the second back to back syndicated loan transaction them with Shriram Finance and comes on the heels of HSBC being the sole lender for the company’s $404 million deal in 2023.