Waste to energy firm SAEL to issue $500 million bonds

Renewable energy major SAEL plans to raise approximately $500 million through a dollar bond and has appointed Barclays, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, and UBS as arrangers for the issuance.

SAEL specializes in converting agricultural waste into energy and other renewable energy ventures. The company uses stubble, the leftover waste from harvested crops, to produce energy. It also operates in the solar energy, waste-to-energy, and module manufacturing sectors, with a renewable energy generation capacity exceeding 2.7 gigawatts.

According to reports, the planned bond will be issued under USD 144A Reg S with a 7-year tenor and will be a senior secured green bond. SAEL intends to use the proceeds to repay existing debt and expand its business. The issuance is timed to take advantage of a favorable borrowing environment and growing investor interest in dollar debt.

Several important international investors/funds have already invested in the Indian company in the recent past. Fitch Ratings has assigned a ‘BB+(EXP)’ rating with a Stable outlook to SAEL Restricted Group’s planned US dollar senior secured notes due 2031. The entity issuing the dollar bond comprises solar and waste-to-energy (WTE) projects owned by India-based SAEL Limited, which aims to raise funds primarily to refinance existing debt and provide inter-company loans.

SAEL and its five subsidiaries will co-issue the seven-year notes, offering cross guarantees.

US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Norway government-owned Norfund, Asian Development Bank and Tata Cleantech Capital provided $1 billion in funding to  SAEL Industries earlier this year. This investment was meant to contribute to avoiding more than 2.8 million tons of CO2 emissions and improving air quality in India by reducing the conundrum of stubble burning.