AZB & Partners advised oil and gas conglomerate Reliance Industries on the issuance of Rs 4,300 crore ($800m) of 5.875 per cent senior perpetual notes.

J Sagar Associates (JSA) and Shearman & Sterling advised the issue’s joint book runners: Barclays Bank, Citigroup Global Markets, Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, JP Morgan Securities, The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

AZB Mumbai partners Shuva Mandal and Varoon Chandra with associate Manan Mehta acted for Reliance Industries.

JSA Mumbai partner Dina Wadia with senior associate Uttara Kolhatkar, and Shearman & Sterling Asia practice head Kyungwon Lee acted for the bankers to the issue.

According to the Business Standard, this is the world’s first issuance of a perpetual bond with a coupon rate of less than 6 per cent, while the Financial Times noted that Reliance is the first company to issue a "for life" perpetual bond, taking advantage of record low interest rates and an appetite for Asian credit.