State Bank of India (SBI) began its road show in London on Thursday for

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the benchmark dollar bonds that it plans to issue for raising money.

The bank is looking to raise $750-800 million for five to seven years tenure at a spread of 190-220 basis points over treasury rate, a top SBI official told Financial Chronicle. According to the official, the bank had raised money at 190 basis points over treasury rate last year and is looking at a similar yield this time too.

“Though the spreads have moved up in a year, we are targeting anywhere between 190 to 220 basis points,” the official said on the condition of anonymity.

Financial Chronicle was the first to report the bond issue on June 9. The road show will end on July 21 in New York. The fund raising will be outside its ongoing $5 billion medium-term note (MTN) programme.

The bank has already mobilised $2.9 billion in the programme.

According to a report by Reuters, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS have been appointed as bankers for the deal. However, this could not be independently verified.

A team comprising senior SBI officials from the international banking division along with investment bankers is in London, and would move to Los Angeles and Boston next week, before wrapping it up in New York on July 21. Simultaneously, other teams will pitch to investors in Singapore and Hong Kong, while a third team will concentrate on continental Europe.

“The road show has begun in London today and the bank expects to get a good response as it has a sovereign tag on it,” one of the bankers involved in the deal told Financial Chronicle. According to the ban-ker, the banking behemoth is targeting a spread lower than that of ICICI Bank issue. ICICI Bank raised $550 million for tenure of 5.5 years at 320 basis points over treasuries.

The benchmark dollar bonds will be issued under Rule 144A, which does not require the issuing firm to file a public registration statement with the Securities & Exchange Commission, the federal agency that regulates the securities and public debt market in the US.

The bank expects the paper to attract US fund houses, pension funds and other institutional investors. FC had reported on June 9 that the money so raised will be used to finance the bank’s expansion in Europe, the US, Southeast Asia and Africa.