Mindspace raises Rs 550 cr through green bond to finance projects

Issue had participation from leading insurers, mutual funds, other investors: Real estate firm

Mindspace Business Parks has raised Rs 550 crore through a green bond, becoming the first real estate investment trust (REIT) to make such an issuance in India.

The company, which owns and develops quality office spaces, issued the bond with a maturing tenure of three years and 30 days at a fixed quarterly coupon of 8.02 per cent per annum payable quarterly. Proceeds from the bond will be used for refinancing loans and to finance green projects, said the company.

“The issuance is rated AAA by ICRA. Trust Investment Advisors was the sole arranger to the issue of bond. The issue also saw participation from leading insurers, mutual funds, and other investor classes. Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co is the legal counsel for the issuance,” said the company in a statement.

Mindspace recently launched a green financing framework under which the company or its asset special purpose vehicles (SPV) may undertake issuances of green debt securities in the form of bonds or debentures.

According to the company, the framework is aligned with the Green Bond Principles (GBP) developed by the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) and is based upon four key areas, namely- use of proceeds, project evaluation and selection, management of proceeds and allocation and impact reporting.

For the current issuance, eligible green project is identified as Gera Commerzone Kharadi, Pune which has a total leasable area of 2.9 million square feet. All the completed and under construction buildings of this project are rated Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) Gold or Platinum, it said.

Mindspace REIT appointed Sustainalytics US Inc., a globally-recognized provider of ESG research, ratings and data, to evaluate the green financing framework.