KOCHI: Kerala government’s debut with KIIFB Masala Bonds has hit the jackpot in international debt market raising `2,150 crore. But anchor investor in the bond has found the finance team of Kerala Infrastructure Investment Board (KIIFB) not efficient enough to handle fund raising in the international market.
To overcome this lack of efficiency, the Kerala government has decided to send a seven-member finance team to London to help them learn the nuances of fund raising in international markets and the expenditure for the London trip will be met by KIIFB. The seven-member team is Additional Secretary and KIIFB Joint Fund Manager Anie Jula Thomas, KIIFB Deputy Fund Manager V Suseel Kumar, KIIFB section officer Jyothi Lekshmi, KIIFB Assistant Hemanth R S, KIIFB Assistant V S Sharon, KIIFB Assistant T V Sooraj and KIIFB Assistant Naushad A.
Though many have raised eyebrows over the inclusion of a section officer and assistants in the team, KIIFB Chief Executive Officer (CEO) K M Abraham said the team members were all well qualified and a majority of the assistants were engineers. “Through the training programme, we aim to equip the staff to handle investors meet and the protocols that need to be put in place to enable KIIFB to launch bonds in the international market,” he said.
The decision to enrich the KIIFB finance team with international fund market has been taken considering the next round of fund raising being proposed by KIIFB through US Dollar Bonds.
“During the discussions with the anchor investor in the Masala Bond, the expert finance professional from their team strongly recommended that KIIFB should improve the capacity of its Finance team to handle the complex issues of fund raising from international sources,” the order said, adding “It’s necessary to build up expertise in KIIFB to handle such events and to become familiar with the process of interacting with international investors.”
“DLA Piper, international Legal Counsel for Masala Bond issue, has agreed to arrange training sessions in financial and legal framework and procedures on international bond issues. The London Office of Standard Chartered and Axis Bank expressed their willingness to supplement lecturers in international finance through their experts. Accordingly, it is proposed to send a 7-member team for a training and exposure visit to London from May 16-18,” the order said.