GuarantCo Guarantees First International Corporate Indian Rupee Green Bond in Asia

  • Date written
  • January, 2018

Sindicatum Renewable Energy Company Pte Ltd (“Sindicatum Renewables”), a Singapore-based developer, owner and operator of renewable energy projects has issued an Indian Rupee (“INR”) international green bond (the “Green Bond”), totaling INR 2.5 billion (approximately USD 40 million).

Sindicatum Renewable Energy Company Pte Ltd (“Sindicatum Renewables”), a Singapore-based developer, owner and operator of renewable energy projects has issued an Indian Rupee (“INR”) international green bond (the “Green Bond”), totaling INR 2.5 billion (approximately USD 40 million).

GuarantCo Ltd, a Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) company, provided an unconditional and irrevocable guarantee, which covers 100% of the principal and interest of the Green Bond.

The Green Bond proceeds will be used to acquire renewable energy projects including several solar projects in India, and refinance existing USD debt into INR debt.

The Green Bond is the first international green bond guaranteed by GuarantCo in Asia. It is also the first in local currency, ensuring that Sindicatum Renewables is not exposed to currency risk.

Moody’s rated the Green Bond A1 and Fitch AA -. The strength of GuarantCo’s guarantee was responsible for the strong rating, which also made it feasible for institutional investors to subscribe to the Green Bond.

Lasitha Perera, GuarantCo’s CEO, said

“GuarantCo is delighted to have partnered with Sindicatum Renewables on this pioneering transaction, our first green bond and the first to be closed by our recently established Singapore office. GuarantCo is committed to mobilising capital markets to support the growth of infrastructure developers that operate in lower income countries. In line with this mission, it is our hope that the innovative synthetic local currency bond structure, developed for Sindicatum Renewables, will be replicated by other developers of critical infrastructure in lower income countries to access the international capital markets whilst mitigating currency risk.”

Assaad W. Razzouk, CEO of Sindicatum Renewables, said

“We are delighted to announce the successful closing of our Indian Rupee-denominated international green bond. With a 7-year maturity, this bond will allow us to accelerate the pace of our investments in India’s clean energy infrastructure while protecting us from foreign exchange risk. We hope that our green bond will increase investors’ limited support todate of the green bond market and help accelerate the mobilization of sustainable finance for South and South-East Asia, a region at the front lines of suffering from climate change.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

About GuarantCo

GuarantCo was established to mobilise local currency investment for infrastructure projects and support the development of financial markets in low income countries. GuarantCo is part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG).

GuarantCo is supported by the governments of the UK, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Australia and is rated AA- by Fitch and A1 by Moodys.

 

About PIDG

The Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) encourages and mobilises private investment in infrastructure in the frontier markets of sub-Saharan Africa, south and south-east Asia, to help promote economic development and combat poverty. Since 2002, PIDG has mobilised $31.4bn from private sector investors and DFIs, supported 154 infrastructure projects to financial close and provided 222 million people with access to new or improved infrastructure. PIDG is funded by donors from seven countries (UK, Switzerland, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany) and the World Bank Group.

 

About Sindicatum Renewables

Sindicatum Renewable Energy Company Pte Ltd is a renewable energy independent power producer that develops, owns and operates power plants in South and Southeast Asia. The company sells the output from its facilities to utility and commercial customers who typically purchase power from Sindicatum Renewables under long-term power purchase agreements.

Sindicatum Renewables is present in India, Thailand and the Philippines. It has been operating solar, bagasse cogeneration and waste to energy power projects in the region since April 2010.