SREI Infrastructure Finance has come out with a maiden issue of tax -saving bonds and would be looking to raise up to ~300 crore in the first tranche.

The company would be looking to raise a total of ~500 crore by the end of this financial year.

Although the issue opened on December 31, marketing of the issue started only today.The yields are linked to the closing ones of government securities of comparable tenor.

The bonds issued are of 10 and 15 years maturity, carrying a coupon of 8.9 per cent and 9.15 per cent, respectively, both on an annual as well as cumulative basis. The bonds also have a buyback option after five years and have been rated AA by CARE.

Although the non-banking financial company can raise up to ~800 crore through tax-saving bonds this year, they have kept the upper limit lower than this. The tax-saving bonds are newer and exclusively for retail investors. Hence, it takes many more subscriptions than that for normal bonds and tax-free bonds to match up to the issue size.

The issue closes on January 31. The bonds carry a lock-in period of five years, after which they can be traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

SREI has raised ~4,500 crore till now, against a target of ~7,000 crore for this financial year.