Allen & Overy has advised BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered Bank, as joint lead managers and bookrunners, on the issuance of USD1.5 billion and EUR525 million bonds by ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), which were guaranteed by OVL’s parent Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC). The bonds were issued under Regulation S of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

OVL is a premier oil and gas company focusing on off-shore exploration and production assets. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of ONGC, India’s largest national oil and gas exploration and production company.

The transaction is the largest Regulation S bond issue from India to date. It is also OVL’s inaugural offering of Euro denominated bonds. The Allen & Overy team had earlier advised the joint lead managers and bookrunners on OVL’s inaugural USD800 million bond issue under Regulation S in May 2013. The team also advised on the inaugural bond issues by Indian Oil Corporation Limited and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited.

Partners Andrew Harrow and Amit Singh led the Allen & Overy capital markets team from Hong Kong with support from associates Garrick Merlo, Emily Dong, Julie Song and Debolina Saha.

Commenting on the deal, Amit said: “We have been involved in the majority of significant capital markets transactions executed from India so far this year, including bond issuances by Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Indian Railway Finance Corporation and Bank of Baroda and we are delighted to add this one to the list. We have also been busy on equity issuances such as the QIPs by State Bank of India and Yes Bank and the rights issue by Tata Power Company Limited. It is expected that there will be robust pipeline of capital markets issues this year (both debt and equity) given the outcome of the recent Indian parliamentary elections, and we believe we are well placed to assist.”