MUMBAI : Gautam Adani-led Adani Transmission Ltd, the largest private sector power transmission company in India, has raised $310 million in dollar-denominated debt through a private placement to US-based investors, the transmission company said in a stock exchange filing on Tuesday.
“Adani Transmission Ltd has circled up its US private placement transaction of USD notes to the eligible international investors. This USD denominated notes are raised by six wholly owned subsidiaries of Adani Transmission Ltd amounting to $310 million. The proposed US note placement, which will be fixed rate instrument, will mitigate interest rate risk for these companies," the filing said.
This is the first time that an Indian company has circled up a transaction for its proposed US private placement in over a decade, the statement added. With this recent round of placement, Adani Transmission now has a 30-year, 10-year and 17-year maturity debt paper in the market, it added.
“We are delighted to raise these funds from our US stakeholders. This will help us mitigate interest rate risk in our TBCB (tariff-based competitive bidding) projects. Further, we aim to expand our network to meet the growing demands of a T&D (transmission and distribution) sector," said Anil Sardana, managing director and chief executive officer, Adani Transmission.
The funds will enable the company to support its efforts toward scaling infrastructure, improving electrification and bridging the gap between the supply and demand for power, he added. “The placement is a strong endorsement of global investors’ confidence in Adani Transmission as a value creator and leader in the power sector contributing toward sustainable growth in the country."
Adani Transmission has shown a strong performance over 2019, with milestones that included five successful letters of intent (LOIs) to build, operate and maintain transmission in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, besides its recent partnership with Qatar Investment Authority, in a significant step to stimulate growth. The latest offshore debt fundraising by the Adani group company follows in the footsteps of the more than $2.76 billion of dollar debt fundraising through bonds the parent group executed in 2019, making it the most active Indian corporate house in the dollar debt market.
Last July, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones Ltd had raised $650 million to buy back bonds of a similar amount maturing in 2020, while in June it had raised $750 million through a separate bond sale.
Adani Green Energy Ltd had raised $500 million in May and followed it up with another bond issuance of $362.5 million in October. Adani Transmission, too, had raised $500 million in November.
Last year, the transmission and distribution business sold a minority stake in its Mumbai electricity distribution company, Adani Electricity Mumbai Ltd (AEML), to Qatar Investment Authority for $450 million. AEML is the licencee for an integrated power distribution, transmission and generation business that currently serves more than three million consumers in Mumbai.
Adani Transmission has a portfolio of cumulative transmission network of more than 14,800 circuit km, out of which more than 11,470km is operational. This includes around 3,320km under various stages of construction.
