Tata Comm secures $250 mn loan from ANZ, EDC, DBS Bank; stock jumps 3%

On Thursday, shares of Tata Communications surged by 2.62 per cent at Rs 1,879.90 a piece on the BSE in intraday trade. This came after the company secured a five-year $250 million sustainability-linked loan (SLL) from ANZ, DBS Bank and Export Development Canada (EDC).

ANZ acted as the lead sustainability coordinator for the loan, while DBS Bank and EDC were the Joint Sustainability Coordinators. The transaction is the first SLL for Tata Communications under the company’s new SLL framework, the company said in an exchange filing. 

Through the framework, Tata Communications intends to link its funding with objectives such as carbon emission reduction targets that are core and material for the company’s long-term sustainability performance. 

The interest rate margin of the loan will be adjusted up or down in accordance with the progress that Tata Communications will achieve on its carbon emission reduction targets. 

Short-term targets, creating a link between the cost of banking facilities and progress achieved on key environmental milestones, are consistent with the company’s longer-term ambition to be Net Zero across its global operations by 2035, the company said in a statement. 

In the January-March quarter of fiscal year 2023-24, Tata Communications disclosed a 1.5 per cent year-on-year decline in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March 2024, amounting to Rs 321 crore. 

Conversely, revenue from operations surged by 25 per cent year-on-year to Rs 5,692 crore. The company's earnings before interest tax and depreciation (Ebitda) increased by 2 per cent to Rs 1,056 crore, despite a decline in the Ebit margin from 23 per cent to 19 per cent.

At 13:26 PM; the stock of the company was trading 2.25 per cent higher at Rs 1,872.55 per share. In comparison, the BSE Sensex rose marginally by 0.13 per cent.