Renewable energy firm ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd has raised Rs 2,235 crore ($352 million) through two non-convertible debt issues, the company said in a statement.
The proceeds from the bond issues will be used for the prepayment of existing term loans, it said.
In the first non-convertible debt issue, ReNew Power raised Rs 1,475 crore through a multi-issuer cross-collateralised rupee bond involving multiple power distribution companies from Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat, and spread across eight special purpose vehicles and 12 projects totalling 234 megawatt of installed capacity (174 MW of wind; and 60 MW of solar).
L&T Financial Services acted as the underwriter for the issue.
In the second non-convertible debt issue, the renewable energy firm raised Rs 760 crore. The issue was given a partial credit guarantee of Rs 230 crore by government agencies India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency. The tenor of the bond is 17 years.
“ReNew Power continues to broad-base its sources of debt financing and the recently concluded NCD transactions have resulted in the reduction of interest cost between 1.5% and 2%. This is expected to help freeing up existing bank limits and allowing us to work towards the renewable energy targets set by state governments and the centre,†said Kailash Vaswani, deputy chief financial officer of ReNew Power.
“This is an appropriate time for infrastructure developers to refinance their operational assets through bond financing, which provides an avenue for fixed rates,†said PR Jaishankar, chief general manager of India Infrastructure Finance Company.
Founded in 2011 by former investment banker and Suzlon Energy COO Sumant Sinha, ReNew Power has over 3,500 MW of commissioned and under-construction clean energy capacity across 16 states in India, according to its website.
It counts Goldman Sachs, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, ADB and Global Environment Fund as its investors, besides Japan’s JERA Co., which pumped in around $200 million in February last year for a 10% stake at a valuation of $2 billion.
In 2017, Asian Development Bank had made a debt investment of $390 million in ReNew Power.
Goldman Sachs was an early backer of the company in 2011, and had subsequently taken part in funding rounds in 2013 and 2014. It is the lead investor in ReNew Power with $370 million in investments, while Global Environment Fund has invested $35 million in the renewable energy producer.
ReNew Power is planning to go public by mid-2018 to allow Goldman Sachs to trim its stake in the company.
In November 2017, VCCircle had reported the Canada Pension Plan Promotion Board is close to picking up a 15-17% stake in ReNew Power for $320-350 million.
