September 11, 2014
panchabuta.com/2014/09/11/suzlon-to-float-subsidiary-in-london/
According to reports, Suzlon Energy, India’s largest wind power company by sales, plans to push ahead with a $600m London flotation of its German subsidiary in the next six months, in spite of concerns about the record of London-listed companies based in emerging markets.
The initial public offering forms part of a new capital-raising push by the once high-flying renewables group, which also plans to raise $600m in fresh US dollar-denominated debt, founder Tulsi Tanti said.
“Our plan is to raise about $1.2bn of debt and equity, and to reduce our existing rupee debt,” he said. “We are working with my Indian bankers, and my German company’s bankers . . . I don’t think it will be an issue.”
Mr Tanti said Suzlon, which is also the world’s fifth-largest wind turbine maker, would float at least 25 per cent of Hamburg-based Senvion, which it bought under its former name Repower for $1.7bn in 2007......
Suzlon’s IPO plans come at a time of rising investor worries over the management and financial performance of listed emerging markets-based businesses.
Mr Tanti said Suzlon should not be compared with the likes of India’s Essar Energy or Kazakhstan-linked miner Eurasian Natural Resources, both of which were criticised for opaque governance and eventually delisted following a collapse in their respective share prices.
“You have to understand, it is a German company with German assets,” he said. “It is not an emerging markets company that is going into the capital market. It is a major difference.”
Mr Tanti said he expected the global wind turbine market would expand by 40 per cent this year, boosting Suzlon’s global revenues, while India’s upturn under recently elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi would improve domestic operations.
He added that Suzlon’s future expansion would avoid the turbulence of recent years, which saw it default on a bond in 2012 and sent shares as low as Rs5.4 last August, having traded around Rs450 in 2008. They are now trading around Rs25.
“Naturally, our growth will now be more stable and cautious,” Mr Tanti said.
na da ist ja noch viel Luft nach oben!