India's Muthoot Finance accepts bids for dollar-bond issue, bankers say

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's Muthoot Finance has accepted bids worth $650 million for U.S. dollar-denominated bonds maturing in three years and nine months, three bankers said on Wednesday.

The company has set a coupon of 7.1250%, below its initial guidance of 7.3750%, amid strong investor demand and received bids worth $1.8 billion, the bankers said, declining to be named as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

"The overwhelmingly positive investor response has been highly encouraging and reaffirms investors' confidence in our robust business model and financial stability," George Alexander Muthoot, managing director of Muthoot Finance said.

The non-banking finance company will use the proceeds for onward lending and other activities permitted under external commercial borrowing guidelines.

Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered are the joint global coordinators for this dollar bond issue, as well as joint bookrunners along with DBS Bank and SMBC Nikko.

The bonds are expected to be rated 'Ba2' by Moody's Investor Service and 'BB' by Fitch Ratings and S&P.

Other Indian non-bank lenders such as Manappuram Finance and state-run REC are also looking to raise funds through a dollar bond issue over the next few days.

(Reporting by Dharamraj Dhutia; Editing by Savio D'Souza)