Suzlon Energy, India’s biggest maker of wind-turbine generators, said it has reduced its borrowings by 15 per cent after it paid back $780 million (Rs 3,645 crore) used to acquire Hansen Transmissions International NV.
The Ahmedabad-based company said it paid the debt partly from funds raised after it sold a 35 per cent stake in Hansen Transmissions last month. Suzlon also borrowed $465 million (Rs 2,103 crore) from State Bank of India, the nation’s largest bank, to repay the loan, the company said in an e-mailed statement today.
Suzlon, which battled falling orders last year after reports of faulty equipment, said this week that it plans to refinance $2.8 billion of debt by the end of next month. The wind turbine maker raised £224 million ($363 million) in November from the stake sale in Belgium-based Hansen Transmissions to pare its $3.1 billion debt.
“The company’s high debt has been a big concern and this repayment brings confidence to investors,” said Chintan Mewar, analyst at Mumbai-based Finquest Securities Pvt. “Suzlon needs to do more.” Mewar has an outperform rating on the stock.
Last month’s sale valued the Belgian maker of wind-turbine gearboxes at about $1.1 billion, compared with the ¤465 million ($691 million) Suzlon paid in March 2006. It owned 61 per cent of the company before the sale last month, Suzlon said in an e-mailed statement on November 19.
Suzlon rose as much as Rs 1.5, or 1.8 per cent, to Rs 84.4 a share in Mumbai trading today.