ACME Solar Holdings Successfully Agrees Issuance of NCDs in Connection With Pricing of $334 Million Via Offshore Green Bonds
Gurugram, July 30, 2021 : 12 projects of ACME Solar Holdings Private Limited (ACME) today agreed to a debt investment of approx. $334 million, which will be funded by US dollar-denominated green bonds that were successfully priced today.
The bonds will be issued by an offshore company and proceeds of the bonds will be used for subscription of non-convertible debentures issued by ACME’s projects. The bonds will have a tenor of five years and a coupon rate of 4.7%. The issue was oversubscribed by over 3 times, which is a testimony of the strong business fundamentals of the underlying assets. The bonds have received Green certification from Climate Bonds Initiative. Closing of the bonds is subject to customary closing conditions, following which ACME’s projects will issue non-convertible debentures.
ACME understands that the issue received tremendous response from marquee investors with a distribution split of 56%/22%/22% between APAC, EMEA and North America/LATM regions. The bonds will list on Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd.
Mr. Manoj K Upadhyay, Founder & Chairman, ACME Group said, “I am very thankful to all the investors for their participation and confidence in us. We have always been supported well by our Indian lenders and we are very happy to receive encouraging support from international investors as well. This will broaden our Source of capital.”
Mr Rajat Seksaria, CEO, ACME Solar, said, “We are pleased with the overwhelming outcome of our maiden proposed issuance of NCDs to overseas investors in connection with a green bond issuance. The success of the issuance is testimony to not only the thriving solar sector in India but also a vote of confidence in the quality of our projects included in the offerings and management of the Company.”
Mr Neeraj Gupta, CFO, ACME Solar, said, “We are now a c.4.8 GWp solar focused platform supported by partners such as Scatec, IFU, Unops and Brookfield. This was the right time for us to diversify our lender base and tap the overseas markets which are deeper and provide an alternative capital source for stable and diversified renewable assets. . It also ties-in with our strategy of pursuing growth by forging long term relationships with like minded partners. Availability of cost effective foreign capital is extremely important for India’s renewables growth target of 450 GW by 2030 and ACME would continue to play a meaningful role.”
Mr Sandeep Kashyap, President, Business, ACME Solar, said, “ESG theme based investing with strong business fundamentals is globally gaining momentum. While, inherent nature of our business is net carbon negative, investors probably also gave weightage to ACME’s active efforts in implementing and operating its project with harmonious social connect with local communities in catchment area of its project locations.”
ACME Solar’s current portfolio is 4.8 GWp, that includes 2.2 GWp of operational capacity and another 2.6 GWp is under construction which are spread across 12 States.
