MUMBAI: Top public and private sector banks have lined up to take a bite of a rare greenfield project finance loan by Adani Enterprises as lead lender State Bank of India (SBI) looks to sell down a large chunk of the Rs 20,000-crore credit line it had sanctioned earlier this year for the conglomerate's petrochemicals debut.Bank of Baroda (BoB), Punjab National Bank (PNB), Union Bank of India, Central Bank of India, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank have either committed or are in the process of committing funds to the $4-billion polyvinyl chloride (PVC) project at Mundra in Gujarat, people familiar with the developments said.The 15-year loan was priced at 9.25% by SBI earlier this year."SBI was the sole underwriter for this loan a few months ago and has also disbursed a few hundred crores already. They plan to down sell it to other banks which is in line with their strategy. The bank plans to retain Rs 5,000-7,000 crore and downsell the rest of the loan, which will eventually be disbursed by other banks," said a person familiar with the matter.A loan selldown helps a bank reduce its risk to a particular entity and also opens up its group limits if it wants to lend to other businesses in the group. The SBI loan was sanctioned for a greenfield polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant to be set up by Adani Enterprises in Mundra Gujarat.The 2 million tonne PVC plan is the Adani's Group's first foray into the petrochemical sector and is expected to double India's capacity to make the plastic polymer which is used to make raincoats, wires, plastic pipes, shower curtains and medical equipment among other things."This is a huge greenfield project and an interesting one for banks to be part off because this is a highly rated credit. The commodity to be manufactured, the amount of the loan and the credit rating of the group is why so many banks are open to taking a share," said a second person aware of the process.Spokespersons at the Adani Group, SBI, BoB, PNB, Union Bank, Central Bank, ICICI and Axis Bank did not reply to separate emails seeking comment.Domestic manufacturing of PVC will help India reduce dependence on imports even as economic activity and higher infrastructure spending may increase demand for PVC. Adani expects to implement the first phase of the project by late 2026.
- News Source Indiatimes (Click to view full news): CLICK HERE
0 Comments:
Leave a Reply