Power producer CLP India on Thursday announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Jhajjar Power Ltd, has raised Rs 476 crore by issuing corporate non-convertible bonds for the 1,320 MW coal-fired power plant at Jhajjar, Haryana.

CLP India is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed CLP Holdings Ltd. It runs large power plants in China, Hong Kong and Australia.

Jhajjar Power has raised the funds through the issue of secured, partially-guaranteed, redeemable, non-convertible debentures with final maturity of 11years. India Ratings and Research Private Ltd has assigned a rating of AA+(SO) to the bonds.

The bonds with a six monthly coupon rate of 9.99 per cent are being issued in two series of equal amounts and will mature in April 2025 and April 2026 respectively. They have been issued and will be listed on the wholesale debt market segment of the BSE. Standard Chartered Bank and IDFC Limited were the lead managers to the issue.

CLP India Managing Director Rajiv Mishra told BusinessLine that the total project cost of Jhajjar plant was over Rs 6,000 crore and money for constructing the plant was raised through bank loans. The entire proceeds of the bond issue would be used for retiring some of the expensive debt, he said.

Mishra said that the returns from the plant have become more predicable. Therefore, it requires more long term fixed rate product such as the bonds, he said.

Managing Director, Standard Chartered Bank (South Asia), Kaustubh Kulkarni, said that the partial credit enhanced bond issue is a first of its kind in recent times. The innovative structure achieves the objective of accessing long term funds at competitive rates for the issuer and an attractive long term investment opportunity for investors such as insurance companies, he said.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW