ASSET-BACKED APPEAL

摘要

Several Indian companies are turning to offerings of asset-backed bonds as an alternative source of funding and bankers expect the trend to accelerate as many cash-strapped issuers from the infrastructure and real-estate sectors spot an opportunity to save on borrowing costs. A handful of asset-backed structures emerged in 2015, pointing to the growing popularity of a format that can be tailored to suit the demands of both issuers and investors. "Structured bonds offer good opportunity of diversification to new issuers and higher yields to investors, including mutual funds," said Rahul Bhuskute, head of structured & credit investments, ICICI Prudential AMC. As of September 30, his fund had Rsl.6trn of assets under management. Mutual funds have emerged among the key investors in these asset-backed offerings, with proceeds mainly going to retire high-cost bank debt.