Just a few days after raising USD $3 billion in a syndicated loan, Reliance Industries and its subsidiary, Reliance Jio, India's largest telecom operator, has raised another $2 billion in the same manner. The foreign currency raise has happened at the most competitive rates, said a PTI report. What's worth noting about this development is that it is the country's most widely syndicated loan, signifying the brand presence of Reliance and Jio in the international markets.
On March 31, 2023, Reliance raised a USD $3 billion syndicated loan, and the add-on of $2 billion has come just a few days later. This fundraising is the largest through a syndicated term loan by an Indian corporate house in the last five years. The USD $3 billion loan involved around 55 lenders, including global giants such as Bank of America, Credit Agricole, MUFG, SMBC, HSBC, nearly two dozen Taiwanese Banks and more. The $2 billion raise was also done with the same terms as the $3 billion raise, and 40 lenders from the first fundraiser also joined the second round by Reliance.
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Both Reliance and Jio will be getting funds from the current raise. Jio would benefit from the fundraising immensely as it looks to increase capital expenditure for rolling out 5G in more cities and towns by the end of this year. Last year, Jio obtained a USD $750 million five-year new-money club loan for capital expenditure. Reliance Jio is deploying 5G SA (standalone), which would require more capital expenses because 5G SA is an independent infrastructure from the 4G infra that has already been deployed.
The number of radios and BTS that Jio will have to deploy to offer the same coverage as Airtel would be way more. Thus, the fundraising would place Jio on track to go ahead with its goals in the near future.
