Suzlon raises $281 mn to repay bondholders: report

Global turbine sales slowed and its huge borrowings for expansion has started to hurt

Suzlon Energy , the world's fifth largest wind turbine maker, has raised $281 million in short-term loans to repay holders of its foreign convertible bonds that mature on Friday, IFR reported.

The company has been under pressure for the last few years as global turbine sales slowed and its huge borrowings for expansion started to hurt.

It signed on Monday a 18-month loan facility with 11 lenders, including ICICI Bank , State Bank of India , Bank of Baroda , Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank , IFR, a Thomson Reuters publication, said on Wednesday.

The all-in cost of the dollar loan is likely to be 325-350 basis points over Libor, IFR said. Suzlon declined comment.

 

Last month, the wind turbine maker said it was in talks with banks to raise $300 million to repay bondholders who had agreed to extend the deadline by 45 days to July 27.

The delay in raising funds for repayment had worried investors, causing an erosion of more than a fifth of Suzlon's market value in the last three months.

Suzlon's foreign currency bonds maturing this year have conversion prices of 76.68 rupees and 97.26 rupees per share, well above its current share price, making them unattractive for bondholders to convert into shares.

Suzlon has to repay another $209 million of foreign bonds in October.

Last month, Suzlon said it would sell stake in its China manufacturing unit for $60 million. The company aims to raise up to $200 million by selling some 'non-critical' assets in the current fiscal year.

Shares of Suzlon, which has a market capitalisation of about $560 million, were trading 2 percent lower at 17.20 rupees at 0934 GMT in a Mumbai market that was 0.41 percent lower.