ACME Solar Holdings secures debt funding of Rs 4,725 cr from Indian financial institutions

ACME Solar Holdings (ACME Solar), through its various subsidiaries, has secured debt tie-up of INR 4,725 crore from leading Indian financial institutions to fund the construction of renewable energy projects and optimize its capital structure by reducing financing costs. The capital raise includes financing and refinancing for a tenor ranging from 18 to 20 years for the projects mentioned below:

New Greenfield Financings: Rs 2,716 crore from Power Finance Corporation (PFC) for 300 MW ACME Sigma FDRE project (Renewable with four hours of battery storage) and First greenfield Project financing for Acme from National Bank for Financing Infrastructure Development (NaBFID) of Rs 800 crore from for 150 MW ACME Platinum Solar + ESS project (with two hours of battery storage with 50% availability). Both these projects have connectivity in place and are in advance stages of construction.

Refinancing: Rs 1,209 crore secured from Yes Bank towards refinancing operational project of 300 MW ACME Sikar Solar project enabling reduction in cost of debt initially by 170 bps and eventually by 195 bps. This is first long-term refinancing from Yes Bank for ACME Solar.

With this round of financing, in the current financial year company has secured ~Rs 10,590 crore of greenfield financing leading to overall debt tie up of more than 90% of PPA signed under construction projects. Further, company has refinanced debt of ~Rs 3,380 crore, achieving a ~135 bps rate reduction on refinanced debt and additional rate reduction of ~ 60 bps on ~ Rs 4,035 crore debt for other projects which includes two operational projects moving to fixed rate regime with existing lender. This initiative is consistent with the Company's long-term funding strategy to maintain a well-diversified and strategic mix of fixed and floating rate borrowings.

Non-fund based limits- ACME Solar has also expanded Non-fund based limits from various Banks this year including ICICI Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, EXIM Bank etc. These limits assist in reducing cost of debt through trade finance during construction stage of project.

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