ONGC, IOCL, Vedanta’s bonds To  Mature in FY24: Moody’s

Three major oil and gas companies- Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), IOCL and Vedanta Resources Limited together have around USD 1.9 billion of rated US dollar bonds maturing next year, rating agency Moody’s Investor Services has said.

ONGC and IOCL is central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, government of India, where as Vedanta Limited is an Indian multinational mining company headquartered in Mumbai, India.

Capital markets are volatile and investor appetite remains selective, so refinancing risks will remain elevated particularly for high-yield issuers such as Vedanta, which accounts for around 47 per cent of the upcoming bond maturities, it opined in a report on 1 December 2022.

Vendanta’s USD 400 million (coupon rate 8 per cent) and another USD 500 million (7.125 per cent) bonds would mature on April 23 and May 31 next year respectively while ONGC’s USD 500 million bonds (3.75 per cent) and IOCL’s USD 500 million bonds ( 5.75 per cent) would mature on August 1 and May 7 next year respectively, it said.

The rating agency also said the weakening rupee is credit negative for Indian companies that generate revenue in the domestic currency but depend on US dollar debt to fund their operations and also credit negative for companies with dollar-denominated costs but rupee-based revenue. “However, we expect the negative credit implications to be limited or temporary,” Moody’s said.

Vedanta Ltd soars 1.16 percent on the NSE, gained for the third straight session today. Company has added around 4.09 percent in last one month. Meanwhile, Nifty Media index of which Vedanta LTd is a constituent, has added around 10.5 percent in last one month and is currently quoting at 6664.85, up 0.62 percent on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 114.07 lakh shares today.

Share of ONGC jumped 3 percent each to Rs 144.75 and Rs 214.10 on the BSE in Friday’s intraday trade in an  otherwise weak market after the government  on Thursday slashed to less than half the windfall profit tax on domestically produced crude oil and also reduced the levy on diesel.