Sun Pharma falls short of bond fundraising target amid rising yields

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The drugmaker priced the five-year tranche at a coupon of 8.05% and the seven-year tranche at 8.20%.

The drugmaker priced the five-year tranche at a coupon of 8.05% and the seven-year tranche at 8.20%. The fundraising came amid a recent hardening in government and corporate bond yields, which made investors more cautious about locking in returns at prevailing rates.

"The company managed to raise around ₹8,000 crore at the pre-fixed pricing, which is a fantastic outcome considering that market yields have moved up by 15 basis points," said a debt banker.

Sun Pharma successfully secured ₹7,816 crore in its latest fundraising round, yet it fell short of its ambitious ₹10,000-crore target. The company opted for five- and seven-year bonds, pricing them at 8.05% and 8.20% respectively. A significant ₹2,100 crore was raised through anchor investments to bolster this effort, although rising market yields have made investors cautious about committing funds.

The two tranches also received ₹2,100 crore in anchor investments from investors including general and life insurance companies, mutual funds, pension funds. The issuer planned to raise up to ₹3,000 crore through the first tranche, which carries a put option after 17 months, and ₹7,000 crore through the second tranche. A Sun Pharma spokesperson did not respond to requests for a comment.

The spread between sovereign debt and AAA-rated corporate bonds has compressed, with the 10-year government bond yield rising above 7.4%, leaving investors with a smaller premium for taking on corporate credit risk, particularly amid rising yields. Crisil Ratings has assigned AAA/Stable rating to the proposed NCDs.

"The 10-year government bond yield had risen to around 7.40%-7.45%, from about 7.36%-7.37% the previous week," another banker said.

Corporate bond yields had also hardened by around 10-20 basis points in recent sessions, reducing the appeal of locking in longer-dated investments at earlier pricing levels.

SBI Capital Markets, Standard Chartered Bank and MUFG Securities India are arrangers of the issuance.