Editor’s Synopsis:

  • AICTPL largest container terminal of India in terms of throughput: a 50:50 joint venture between
    • Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (‘APSEZ’), largest private sector port operator in India; and
    • Terminal Investment Limited (‘TiL’), 6th largest container terminal operator in the world & majority owned by MSC, the 2nd largest container shipping liner in the world
  • 10 times oversubscription with marquee Investors participation - largest oversubscription for any corporate Indian Issuer in the past 3 Years
  • The lowest fixed coupon @3.00% from any corporate Indian issuer in last 5 years

 

Ahmedabad, 28th December 2020: AICTPL settled its first USD 300 mn public USD bond issuance on 21st December 2020. The issue witnessed large participation from marquee real money investors with interests coming from around 220 accounts leading to approx. 10 times oversubscription. The issue of ~10 Years was priced at par to yield 3.00% which is also the lowest coupon achieved by any corporate Indian issuer in the last 5 years.

 

The investors were attracted by its strong shareholders, APSEZ & TiL, and their combined business strengths embedded in the Company, backed by the credit quality of the issuance supported by investment grade rating affirmation by all 3 international rating agencies.

 

The issuance is in line with Adani Group’s philosophy to tap the capital market to re-engineer the capital structure for assets and finance them with debt extending for the life of the project. The issuance also fits perfectly into TiL’s strategy to diversify and optimize funding sources for its terminal companies around the globe.

 

Barclays, Citigroup, DBS Bank, MUFG, and Standard Chartered were global coordinators, book-runners, and lead managers.

 

Mr. Karan Adani, CEO and Whole Time Director of APSEZ said, “The issuance is in line to the Group’s capital management philosophy of re-engineering the capital structure & extending debt maturity inline to the life of asset. Our relationship with TiL is very important to us & holds the key to our strategy for making Mundra container hub for the region and AICTPL as our flagship terminal. Successful issuance demonstrates the appreciation & acceptance of level of corporate governance at the private JV level. The first note issuance by any port vertical JV company also paves the way & sets the benchmark for other JVs & Subsidiary companies of the group to tap the capital market.”

 

Mr. Ammar Kanaan, CEO of TiL said, “Our relationship with Adani is a classic example of a commercial partnership which is based on core principles of trust, transparency, and respect. AICTPL holds a key position in our overall portfolio of terminals across all continents and is ideally located at Mundra port enabling it to be the port of choice for cargo going to North India. AICTPL’s operational performance continues to be amongst the best in the portfolio of terminals owned by us. India is a strategic place for our investment, and we foresee great opportunities going forward.”