State Bank of India, acting through its London branch, has raised USD 500 million by issuing bonds at a coupon rate of 5.25 per cent.

The 'Regulation S' bond is benchmarked against the 5-year US Treasury and priced at a spread of 88 bps over the benchmark, SBI said in a statement on Thursday.

'Regulation S' tagged instruments are exempt from registration requirements of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and can be issued outside the United States.

The bonds will be listed on SGX-ST, India INX and NSE-IX, it said.

The transaction received an overwhelming response and saw strong interest from investors across geographies, with a peak order book of USD 2.46 billion with 145 investors.

SBI Chairman CS Setty said, "The successful pricing of USD 500 million, during the ongoing global uncertainties, is a testament to the strong appetite for bonds of SBI and to the diversified investor base the Bank has in offshore capital markets, allowing it to efficiently raise funds from the leading global fixed income investors".

The issue has priced at the tightest spread among all Indian public bond issuances since the RBI swap window announcement and reflects the confidence of the global investors in India's growth story in general and credit quality of SBI in particular, he said, adding that the tight pricing achieved amid the evolving global macro environment has demonstrated containment in the borrowing cost for issuers from India.

BNP PARIBAS, Citigroup, Credit Agricole CIB, Emirates NBD Bank PJSC, HSBC (B&D), MUFG, and Standard Chartered Bank were the joint Bookrunners for this offering.