Muthoot Finance 10% NCDs – February 2019 Issue

This post is written by Shiv Kukreja, who is a Certified Financial Planner and runs a financial planning firm, Ojas Capital in Delhi/NCR. He can be reached at shivskukreja@gmail.com

Muthoot Finance has launched its latest public issue of secured, redeemable, non-convertible debentures (NCDs) from today, February 14, 2019. The company plans to raise Rs. 750 crore from this issue, including the green-shoe option to retain oversubscription of Rs. 650 crore. These NCDs will carry coupon rates between 9.25% for 24 months and 10% for 60 months.

Maturity period will range between 24 months to 60 months, having monthly, annual and cumulative interest payment options. The issue is scheduled to remain open for a month to close on March 14, 2019. However, in case of oversubscription above Rs. 100 crore, the company has the right to close it prematurely.

Here are the salient features of the issue you should consider before taking a decision to invest or not:

Size of the issue – Base size of the issue is Rs. 100 crore and the company will have the option to retain oversubscription to the tune of Rs. 750 crore, including the green-shoe option of Rs. 650 crore.

Minimum Investment – Investors are required to apply for a minimum of ten bonds of Rs. 1,000 face value i.e. an investment of at least Rs. 10,000.

Interest Rate on Offer, Effective Yield & Tenor of the Issue – The issue will carry coupon rate of 10% p.a. for a period of 60 months, 9.75% p.a. for 38 months and 9.50% p.a. for 24 months. These rates would be applicable for annual interest payment options only. Monthly interest payment option is also available and coupon rates for these periods are 9.75% p.a., 9.50% p.a. and 9.25% p.a. respectively.

You can check the rates offered for different maturities and different payment options from the table below:

Categories of Investors & Allocation Ratio – The investors have been classified in the following four categories and each category will have certain percentage fixed for the allotment:

Category I – Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) – 20% of the issue is reserved i.e. Rs. 150 crore

Category II – Non-Institutional Investors & Corporates – 20% of the issue is reserved i.e. Rs. 150 crore

Category III – High Net Worth Individuals (HNIs) & HUFs investing more than Rs. 10 lakhs – 30% of the issue is reserved i.e. Rs. 225 crore

Category IV – Retail Individual Investors, including HUFs investing up to Rs. 10 lakhs – 30% of the issue is reserved i.e. Rs. 225 crore

Allotment on First-Come First-Served Basis –Allotment will be made on a first-come first-served basis, as well as on a date priority basis i.e. on the date of oversubscription, the allotment will be made on a proportionate basis to all the applicants of that day on which it gets oversubscribed.

NRI/QFI Investments – Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), foreign nationals and Qualified Foreign Investors (QFIs) among others are not allowed to invest in this issue.

Ratings & Nature of NCDs – CRISIL and ICRA, the two rating agencies involved in this issue, have assigned ‘AA/Stable’ rating to the issue, indicating the issue to be safe as far as timely payments of interest and principal investments are concerned. As mentioned above as well, all these NCDs are ‘Secured’ in nature.

Demat Account Mandatory – The company has decided to issue these NCDs compulsorily in demat form. So, if you don’t have a demat account, you won’t be able to apply for these NCDs.

Taxability & TDS – No TDS in Demat Form – Interest income with these NCDs is taxable in the hands of the investors and you will have to pay tax on the interest income while filing your income tax return. Moreover, as demat account is mandatory to invest in this issue, no TDS would get deducted from your interest income on NCDs held in demat form.

But, in case you decide to close your demat account, you can get these NCDs rematerialised. So, if rematerialised and held in physical form after the allotment, and if the annual interest income is more than Rs. 5,000, TDS @ 10% will be deducted.

Listing, Premature Withdrawal – Muthoot has decided to get its NCDs listed only on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Allotment as well as listing of these NCDs will happen within 6 working days from the closing date of the issue. There is no option of a premature redemption back to the company, but the investors can always sell these NCDs on the stock exchange to encash their investments.

Should you invest in Muthoot Finance NCDs?

Financial results declared by both the gold-financing companies, Manappuram Finance and Muthoot Finance, have been above analysts expectations for the two straight quarters in a row. So, from the fundamentals point of view, both these companies are doing good and it seems there is no immediate threat to their business model due to the recent NBFC liquidity crisis, as well as the NPA issues.

The interest rates offered by Muthoot this time around are exactly 1% higher as compared to its previous issue of April 2018. Given the fundamentals are still strong and the asset quality too is not deteriorating in any negative manner, the interest rates on offer look reasonable.

However, the point again is whether one should take risk with these NBFCs for a slightly higher rate of interest these companies are offering. The answer is ‘No’, if you have a limited amount to capital to invest and it is your hard earned money you need to invest to achieve any of your long term financial goals. You should also avoid it if you are in a higher tax bracket.

I also have a view that you should not make more than 5-10% of your debt investment with any one such private company. So, if you have already invested a sizable amount with Muthoot, then you should avoid increasing your exposure here. Investors, who understand risk with such debt investments and are not liable to pay high tax on their taxable investments, can consider investing in these NCDs.

Application Forms – Muthoot Finance NCDs

Note: As per SEBI guidelines, ‘Bidding’ is mandatory before banking the application form, else the application is liable to get rejected. For bidding of your application, any further info or to invest in Muthoot NCDs, you can contact us at +91-9811797407

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