APSEZ becomes India's first infra major to raise 20-year money from global markets

Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], July 27 : Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) said on Tuesday it has successfully priced a USD 750 million senior unsecured USD notes issuance with 20 years and 10.5 years tranches at a fixed coupon of 5 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively.
The issuances were oversubscribed by over three times. "APSEZ has continued to receive exceedingly strong participation (for its successive bond offerings) from its high-quality real money investors across all geographies," it said in a statement.
The issuance establishes the Adani Group as India's leading issuer with the ability to access international capital markets across all market cycles.
"APSEZ is the only infrastructure company in India to successfully raise 20 years money from international markets, an achievement that underscores the strength of the company's unique business model and strong fundamentals as well as APSEZ's commitment to ESG and the UN Sustainability Development Goals."
Within the Adani portfolio, APSEZ is the third issuer of long tenor bonds after energy utilities Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL) and Adani Transmission Ltd (ATL).
Having issued the long tenor bond in developed markets, APSEZ has elongated the debt maturity to over seven years from six years. APSEZ's natural hedge through its foreign currency earnings allows the company to manage its foreign currency exposure.
This issuance has also reconfigured the ratio of APSEZ's debt from overseas investors from 69 per cent to 73 per cent.
Karan Adani, CEO and Whole Time Director of APSEZ, said the company is proud of being India's first infrastructure company to raise USD 750 million of dual tranche 10.5-year and 20-year unsecured bonds in global capital markets.
"This issuance reflects the confidence international financial markets have in the fundamentals of the Adani Group's business model and its ability to execute."
Adani said it further demonstrates the company's ability to mobilise global resources commensurate with its long asset life and is a part of the capital management program to lock lower interest rates over an extended tenor and extend debt maturity.
"The reduced cost of capital will translate into greater capital efficiency as well as enhanced shareholder returns."
Following this issuance, APSEZ has raised the national bar for issuing long tenor bonds and has established a robust financial foundation that will help continue support the development of large infrastructure assets.
The Adani Group's growth model of building and developing world-class infrastructure assets rapidly and thereafter accessing global financial markets is unique and unreplicated in India's business landscape.
The JLMs to the transaction were Axis Bank, Barclays, Citigroup, DBS Bank, Emirates NBD, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Mizuho Securities, MUFG Securities, SMBC Nikko, and Standard Chartered Bank.