State Bank of India sells dollar-denominated bonds

$850mln of five-year bonds SBI sold in October dropped to lowest in at least a month.

State Bank of India, the nation’s largest lender, started marketing five-year bonds denominated in U.S. dollars, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The notes are being promoted to investors with a spread in the high 200 basis-point to 300 basis-point range over similar- maturity Treasuries, said the person, who declined to be identified because details are private. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings Plc, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and UBS AG are managing the benchmark sale, the person said. Benchmark typically means at least $500 million.

The $850 million of five-year bonds State Bank sold in October dropped to the lowest in at least a month. The 4.5 percent notes traded at 101.174 cents on the dollar to yield 4.193 percent, according to BNP Paribas SA prices as of 3:50 p.m. in Hong Kong.

View the full story in Business Week.