India's first Rs 150 cr Ghaziabad green bond lists on BSE platform
Apr 08, 2021
New Delhi [India], April 8 : Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation which recently raised Rs 150 crore (base issue: Rs 100 crore with a green shoe option of Rs 50 crore) on private placement basis using the BSE bond platform was listed on Thursday.
It was opened for a subscription on March 31 last year. The coupon rate of the taxable bond was fixed at 8.1 per cent per annum and was rated AA by India Ratings and AA(CE) by Brickworks and has a maturity of 10 years with a staggerred redemption.
Additionally, the company received Rs 19.5 crore incentive from the Centre for raising municipal bonds. Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation has entered into an understanding with Sahibabad Industries Association for the purpose of achieving various goals and objectives relating to water supply.
The capital raised is proposed to partially fund the tertiary sewage and water treatment plant which is estimated to cost Rs 240 crore. The merchant bankers to the bond issue were A K Capital Services and HDFC Bank.
"The capital raised will not only enforce financial discipline but also paves way for the corporation for a bigger fund raise in future," said Mahender Singh Tawar, Municipal Commissioner of Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation.
"We saw an interest of 40 bids attracting a total subscription of Rs 401 crore. This had come within minutes on bid date and that too with a very competitive coupon rate of 8.1 per cent which is one of lowest in municipal bonds in India. This is also the first-ever green bond issued by any municipal corporation."
Ashishkumar Chauhan, Managing Director and CEO of BSE, said the order book was filled more than 4X in a few minutes.
"The green bond market has immense potential and is an attractive opportunity for Indian municipalities to leverage funds for meeting clean and climate-resilient urban infrastructure targets for the nation," he said.
