Green energy company Suzlon is in talks with Deutsche Bank to raise $350 million in debt from the offshore market. This is in addition to ₹2,000 crore it is raising by selling non-convertible debentures (NCD) at home.
The NCDs are being sold through its subsidiary, Suzlon Global Services. The company is in talks with JP Morgan regarding the NCD fundraising.
The funds raised will be utilised to prepay Suzlon Energy’s debt and capital expenditure. It will help the company in meeting early redemption of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) worth $35,931,200, which were originally due for payment in 2032. The company had an order book of 782 MW as on December 31, 2022, which is likely to be executed over this financial year.
Both Suzlon and Deutsche Bank declined to comment.
Suzlon Energy has recently reported a profit after tax on an operational basis during the second quarter of FY23. While the company has undergone multiple restructurings with its lenders since 2017-18 in order to address its debt issues, it refinanced its existing debt in May 2022, replacing 16 lenders including State Bank of India with two new lenders – REC and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency.
The company has debt service obligations of more than ₹961 crore in FY24 and FY25, which it plans to repay from operating cash flows of ₹1,450 crore over the next two fiscals, according to a recent Crisil report.
The company’s unencumbered cash and equivalents stood around ₹125 crore as on March 23, 2023. The company has planned capex of about ₹150 crore each over FY24 and FY25, which it plans to fund through internal accruals, the Crisil note said.
Suzlon is a provider of operations and maintenance of renewable energy solutions with around 13.8 GW of wind energy assets under service in India. The group also has 5.9 GW of installed capacity outside India spread across 17 countries, according to the company’s website.
Source: Economic Times