Following other green issuers like Continuum, which saw $950 million in demand and retained $650 million maturing in nine years earlier this financial year, SAEL will use the proceeds to repay existing debt and expand its business. The issuance comes amid a favourable borrowing environment and rising investor appetite for dollar debt.
The company uses stubble, the leftover waste from harvested crops, to produce energy. It is into solar energy, waste to energy and module manufacturing and has a renewable energy generation capacity of over 2.7 gigawatts.
US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Norfund, which is owned by the Norway government, have invested in the company.
ET’s queries to SAEL, Barclays, HSBC and UBS did not receive any response while a Standard Chartered Bank spokesperson declined to comment.
Indian corporates are seeing a revival in junk dollar bond sales, amid strong demand leading to lower borrowing costs.
Muthoot Finance re-tapped its May 2024 bond, initially raising a $650 million bond and adding another $100 million this month at a tighter price of 6.73% down from 7.125%.
Piramal Capital is also expected to enter the market soon with a $400 million debut issuance, showing robust interest in dollar debt.
Fitch Ratings has assigned a ‘BB+(EXP)’ rating with a Stable outlook to SAEL Restricted Group’s (SAEL RG1) planned US dollar senior secured notes due 2031. The entity issuing the dollar bond consists of solar and waste-to-energy (WTE) projects owned by India-based SAEL Limited, which is looking to raise funds primarily to refinance existing debt and provide inter-company loans.
SAEL and its five subsidiaries will co-issue the seven-year notes, offering cross guarantees. Repayment will mostly come from mandatory cash sweeps (40.9%) and scheduled amortisation (5.5%), according to Fitch Ratings.
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