Adani’s Mumbai discom arm raises $300 mn in sustainability-linked bonds

The order book for the $300 million takedown was oversubscribed 9.2 times by global investors and the global geographical split of the investors was Asia – 49%, EMEA – 27% and North America – 24%, the statement said.

“With this landmark transaction, AEML’s capital management plan enters the second phase with 100% of the term debt being placed in the international capital markets with the overall maturity now increased to approximately 9 years,” it said.

The company said the bond offering saw the largest order-book oversubscription ever for a 10-year ESG bond issuance in Asia (ex-Japan) and that this is the first Sustainability Linked Bond (SLB) issuance from an Indian utility.

“The Key Performance Indicators chosen for the SLB framework contribute to UN Sustainable Development Goals SDG 7 (Affordable Clean Energy), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and SDG 13 (Climate Change),” the company said.

“The challenging short-term targets of increasing the renewable energy penetration in AEML’s power purchase mix from the current 3% to 30% by 2023 and then 60% by 2027 are legally covenanted targets which are consistent with the COP26 targets,” said Kandarp Patel, MD & CEO, Adani Electricity Mumbai Limited.

“AEML has set for itself some of the nation’s most challenging renewable penetration targets in the short term, thereby showcasing our commitment towards net zero emissions. We have also committed to the short-term target of reductions of Green House Gas (GHG) Emission Intensity by 60% from FY19 levels to stay in line with COP26 targets. In addition to the legally covenanted targets, we have publicly announced a target of 70% renewable penetration by 2030.” he said.

The advisors to the transaction included Axis Bank, Barclays, Citigroup, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank among others.