Shapoorji Pallonji group has sought an extension of repayment terms for Rs 14,300 crore of debt raised in June last year, by SP Group entity Goswami Infratech through rupee-denominated zero-coupon non-convertible debentures (NCDs), according to documents seen by Moneycontrol.
These funds were raised from a group of investors, including Cerberus Capital, Varde Partners, Canyon Capital, Davidson Kempner, as well as existing lenders Deutsche Bank, Edelweiss Special Opportunities Fund and Ares SSG.
Shapoorji had to make a payment of Rs 1,400 crore on this debt, due May 26. However, the group has approached the lenders to modify the terms of repayment giving it time till September 30 to make this payment.
Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered Bank were the lead arrangers for this fundraise for SP Group.
Shapoorji has told the NCD holders that it is in the process of raising funds to repay the debt raised against shares of Tata Sons held by Sterling Investments Corporation Private Limited (SIPL), documents seen by Moneycontrol show. However, it said that it will need more time to raise sufficient debt to repay the SIPL's loans and then make the Rs 1,400 crore repayment to the Goswami Infratech NCD holders.
A significant portion of the NCDs were sold to domestic high net-worth individuals by wealth management firms, who were allocated these NCDs by foreign banks.
Sterling Investment, which owns a little over 9 percent stake in Tata Sons, had issued bonds worth Rs 20,000 crore in 2021 for a tenure of three and a half years. The funds were primarily raised from Ares SSG and US hedge fund Farallon Capital.
An email sent to Shapoorji group did not elicit a response. Deutsche Bank adn Standard Chartered Bank declined to comment.
Moneycontrol reported on March 11 that SP group has begun discussions with lenders to roll over and partly refinance the Rs 20,000 crore of debt taken against its shares in Tata Sons.
Later on May 6, Moneycontrol reported that the Shapoorji group was in talks with Power Finance Corp to raise as much as $1.2 billion to refinance part of the Rs 20,000 crore debt.
SP Group, on March 26, said that it had entered into an agreement with Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone to sell a 95 percent stake in Gopalpur Port in Odisha for Rs 1,349 crore. Adani Ports will purchase a 56 percent stake in the port SP Group and 39 percent from Orissa Stevedores, fulfilling a key clause of its loan agreement stipulating the sale of Gopalpur within an agreed timeframe.
Also in March, SP Group-backed construction company Afcons Infrastructure Ltd filed share sale documents with the Securities Exchange Board of India to raise Rs 7,000 crore through an initial public offering. The public listing of Afcons by June is also part of the group’s loan agreement with lenders.
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