Chennai: State Bank of India's $400-million senior unsecured five-year fixed rate note issue has been rated as 'BB' by global rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P). The bank is issuing the medium term notes (MTN) through its London branch.

These notes are being issued under the bank's multi-currency US$1-billion MTN issuance programme, to which S&P has assigned its 'BB' senior unsecured debt rating and 'BB-' subordinated debt rating.

According to S&P, ratings on future issues under the programme might not necessarily be the same as the ratings on the programme assigned now and will be assessed specifically as and when they take place based on their terms and conditions.

The US$400-million five-year fixed rate notes represent the first issue to be made under the bank's MTN programme. Proceeds of the US$400 million fixed rate notes and any future issues under the programme will be used to meet the general funding requirements for the bank's international operations, subject to regulatory approvals.

Under the MTN programme, the senior notes will constitute direct, unconditional, unsubordinated, and unsecured obligations of the bank and will rank pari passu with all of the bank's unsecured and unsubordinated obligations, and ahead of all future subordinated debt issues.