ONGC to provide first guarantee in 15 years for unit bond sale, says report

India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has provided its first guarantee in 15 years for a rupee-denominated bond, which will likely be issued by a subsidiary this quarter, three sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday (October 9).

ONGC Petro Additions Ltd (OPAL), in which ONGC owns over 95%, is seeking to raise 50 billion rupees ($563.22 million) through a multi-tranche bond sale, they said.

However, with rating agency Crisil rating OPAL’s bonds at AA+ two months ago, ONGC has stepped in to boost its investor appeal, the sources said, requesting anonymity as they are not authorized to speak to the media.

ONGC’s unconditional and irrevocable guarantee upgrades the credit rating to provisional AAA (CE).

ONGC will ensure that OPAL’s commitments are duly met within the stipulated time frame, the rating agency said in a note.

This is the first such guarantee from ONGC since January 2010, when it guaranteed the bonds of another subsidiary, ONGC Videsh Ltd.

OPAL, which has set up a petrochemical project in the western Indian state of Gujarat, is seeking to raise funds through a five-year bond issue and is in talks with some large state investors to serve as an anchor, which would give some confidence to other investors, another source said.

“Generally speaking, the issuer has pushed for very low coupon rates, but with investors worried about exposure to lower yields, issue sizes have always been smaller,” a source said.

Once OPAL is able to attract an investor, it will release the issue sometime this quarter.

Neither company responded to an email from Reuters seeking comment.

Currently, OPAL has outstanding bonds worth Rs 17.60 billion. It had last tapped the bond market 15 months ago and raised Rs 1.60 billion through a three-year bond issue at 8.39 per cent.