JSW Steel raises $1 bn through bonds issuance in overseas market

JSW Steel on Thursday said it has raised USD 1 billion through issuance of Sustainability Linked Bonds (SLBs) in the overseas market.

In a statement, JSW Steel said it has become the first company in the steel sector globally to issue a USD-denominated Sustainability Linked Bonds (SLBs).

"The company raised a total of USD 1 billion in the USD bond markets through a RegS/144A issuance which was subscribed by high quality institutional investors across Asia, Middle East, Europe and the US," it said.

At the current exchange rates, USD 1 billion is more than Rs 7,300 crore.

The issuance comprised two tranches of bonds having tenures of 5.5 years and 10.5 years, each for an amount of USD 500 million.

The 10.5 years-tranche was issued as an SLB where the company committed to achieving an ambitious target of less than or equal to 1.95 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of crude steel produced by March 2030. This will represent a 23 per cent reduction from its 2020 level.

The proceeds of the issue will be used by the company to fund capex plans as well as for refinancing debt, JSW Steel said.

Seshagiri Rao, Joint Managing Director and Group CFO of JSW Steel, said the overwhelming response that received for the SLB issuance is a testimony of stakeholder confidence in the company's commitment to climate change mitigation.

JSW is already operating a 100 tonnes per day capacity-Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) project where the captured and refined CO2 is used in the beverages industry.