Mumbai, Feb 3 (PTI) Morgan Stanley-controlled Continuum Wind Energy has raised USD 561 million from a dollar-denominated green bond sale to international investors, according to a merchant banking source.

The company has raised USD 561 million from the issue, which was over-subscribed by over six times at USD 3.7 billion, helping the city-based green energy player to tighten the annual coupon rate to 4.5 per cent over the US treasury from 4.875 per cent for the six-year money, the merchant banker told PTI on Wednesday.

Continuum began operations in June 2009 and has since been growing through acquisitions of wind and solar assets. It currently has a portfolio of about 2 GW, of which 757 MW are operational in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu; and 428 MW under construction.

"Though the bond matures in in six years, the weighted average life of the bond is only 5.1 years," the source said.

PTI on Tuesday was the first to report that the company was in the international bond market with a benchmark issue.

The World Bank group member International Finance Corporation is an anchor investor to the issue.

Deutsche Bank was the lead banker for the transaction, while other investment bankers included Standard Chartered, HSBC and JPMorgan.

Since January, domestic issuers have raised USD 2 billion in forex debt, with the Exim Bank opening the market with a USD 1 billion fund raise in the first week of January, which was soon followed by SBI with a USD 600 million issue, Adani Ports (USD 500 million) and PFC (USD 350 million).

The Indian Railway Finance Corporation and IRB Infra are also in the market with benchmark issues, given the record low interest rates to pay back the higher priced loans.

The Continuum bond is rated BB+ by Fitch and Ba2 by Moody's.

Continuum is majority-owned by North Haven Infrastructure Partners, a USD 4-billion global infrastructure fund managed by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners that focuses on long-term investment in infra assets across the globe.

The company also has strong support of leading banks and financing institutions like SBI, IFC, PFC, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, India Infrastructure Finance Company, Tata Capital, and L&T Infrastructure Finance, among others, according to its website.

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