Becomes first Indian Ports company to successfully raise funds through Sustainability-Linked Bonds with a long tenor
JSW Infrastructure Ltd, India’s leading private sector infrastructure development company and part of the US$ 22 billion JSW Group, successfully priced a US$ 400 million 144A/Reg S Senior Secured Guaranteed Sustainability-Linked Bond for a 7 year tenor at 4.950%. The proceeds of this issue will be used to repay existing debt of the Company and its subsidiaries and as permitted by RBI under the ECB Guidelines. This fund raise marked the Company’s debut bond issue as well as the first Sustainability-Linked Bond (SLB) from an Indian ports company. JSW Infrastructure also became one of the few companies to successfully issue a long tenor high yield corporate bond in their debut issuance itself.
This Sustainability-Linked Bond issue is guided by JSW Infrastructure’s Sustainability-Linked Bond Framework which is aligned to the International Capital Market Association (ICMA). The Company has obtained a second party opinion from DNV, describing the Sustainability Performance Target set as “ambitious” and “beyond what is considered ‘business-as-usual’”.
The Company engaged with multiple investors during the deal roadshow on Jan 11th and 12th across Asia, Europe and US. Backed by strong investor feedback, the transaction was launched with an initial price guidance of 5.250% area. Subsequently supported by robust interest from high quality real money investors, the Company was able to tighten pricing by 30bps to 4.950%, despite yield widening in the high yield bond markets. After FPG announcement, the book showed minimal attrition, showcasing the investors strong interest to participate in the trade.
Mr. Arun Maheshwari, JMD & CEO of JSW Infrastructure thanked the international investor community for their overwhelming response to the debut bond issue by the company. He said, “It will help us to realign our capital structure and bring in more funding efficiency in the coming years. The success of this SLB Bond Issue validates our stable business model with our renewed focus on Sustainability-linked business strategy.”
While describing the marquee debut issue Mr. Lalit Singhvi, Executive Director & CFO of JSW Infrastructure stated, “We are overwhelmed by the strong response of the global accredited investor community to our debut SLB issue. We feel encouraged that global investors have imposed confidence in our business acknowledging our long track-record. This Bond Issue will enable us to further diversify, strengthen our sources of funding and optimize our capital structure. This transaction earmarks the continued confidence investors have shown in our Group and we look forward to continue this partnership.”
The deal received strong response from investors globally, resulting in the order book to peak at US$ 1.35 billion+ with final order book in excess of US$ 1.13 billion with an oversubscription of >3x. The transaction witnessed 46% participation from Asia, 30% from Europe and 24% from US, with 92% investments from funds, 6% from private banks and 2% from banks and others.
Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered Bank acted as Joint Global Coordinators and Bookrunners and Deutsche Bank also acted as the Sole Sustainability-Linked Notes structuring agent. Axis Bank, Barclays and Emirates NBD acted as Joint Bookrunners.
