SBI hires 10 banks for $300-m loan

State Bank of India hired 10 banks to help it borrow $300 million in a three-year loan. Other lenders are being invited to join the facility in general syndication and responses are due on May 27, a source said.
Banks offering to commit $20 million or more will receive an all-in fee of 140 basis points more than the London interbank offered rate, source said.

Mumbai-based State Bank, which has the equivalent of $17 billion in bonds maturing before 2049 and no loans, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, has the option to increase the size of the facility.

Funds will be used for general corporate purposes, they said. Meetings will be held with lenders in Taipei and Singapore on April 27 and 28, another person familiar with the matter said yesterday.

The banks are Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, Bank of America Corp, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, BNP Paribas SA, Citigroup, Credit Agricole CIB, HSBC Holdings, Mizuho Corporate Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Standard Chartered, the person said.