MUFG securing of green loan certification for SoftBank project
Majority-owned by SoftBank, SB Energy Holdings Limited, is committed to maintaining the highest quality environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles in its projects, a testament to which is a recently secured green loan certification.
“We are especially delighted to secure green loan certification for this project for which we have raised India’s largest-ever multi-currency project financing in the renewable sector,” SB Energy CFO Vijay Venkatachalam on US$333 million financing deal for SoftBank’s latest and largest solar project in India.
“We are privileged to partner leading domestic and international banks and financial institutions for our financing needs and are pleased that they continue to repose their trust in our ability to consistently deliver projects,” Venkatachalam said on 22 Dec 2020.
Japanese origin MUFG Bank Ltd has acted as sole green structuring advisor for the financing. This marks the first green certification of a solar project loan for both the client and the country and underscores both MUFG’s sustainable financing capabilities as well as commitment towards partnering clients in their environmental, social and governance (ESG) objectives.
The 900 megawatt-DC solar farm in the Phalodi-Pokhran Solar Park in the State of Rajasthan, India, is the seventh and largest project of its type in line to be commissioned by SB Energy, a majority-owned subsidiary of SoftBank Group.
MUFG also acted as original mandated lead arranger and lender, bookrunner, facility agent, inter-creditor agent, account bank and hedging bank. This is the third project financing undertaken by MUFG for Softbank in India. The transaction closed in August, and with the bank’s assistance, attained green certification on 22 December 2020.
MUFG’s securing of green loan certification for SoftBank represents the first time that a project loan in India has been certified using guidelines aligned with the LMA / APLMA Green Loan Principles, a globally-recognised framework designed for participants in the sustainability financing market to consistently certify, track and monitor the environmental impact of financing assets.
It is also SB Energy’s inaugural green loan certification amongst its renewable projects.
KPMG provided the independent limited assurance for the green loan.
The loan also received CBI certification from Climate Bonds Initiative under the Climate Bonds Standard, which marks it as the first CBI certified loan from India.
MUFG’s role as green structuring advisor for this deal underscores both its commitment to driving sustainable growth as well as its market-leading capabilities in ESG financing.
It has committed a total sum of JPY20 trillion (US$188 billion) into sustainability-related financing by 2030, having utilised 19% of this amount (JPY3 trillion or US$35 billion) in the first year (FY2019).
The bank is also a global leader in renewable generation projects and has also been ranked top lead arranger in Bloomberg’s league tables for clean energy financing for six of the past eight years. In Asia Pacific outside Japan, MUFG is ranked number-one bookrunner in Bloomberg’s green loan league table (YTD2020).
“We would like to congratulate SoftBank for achieving yet another milestone towards its sustainability agenda,” added Colin Chen, MUFG’s Head of Structured Finance, Asia Investment Banking Division.
“At MUFG, we share the same commitment towards environmentally and socially responsible business practices, and with this latest deal, is pleased to reaffirm our proven track record as Softbank’s go-to project financier for projects in India as well as our market leadership in ESG and renewables financing,” said Chen. #climatebons #climate #environment #solar #renewables #opec #project #banking /fiinews.com
