MUFG Gets Green Certification for Softbank’s 900 MW PV Project in India

MUFG Bank has acted as the sole green structuring advisor for a USD 333 million financing deal for SoftBank’s 900 MW solar project in India.

MUFG Bank has announced that it has acted as the sole green structuring advisor for a USD 333 million financing deal for SoftBank’s latest and largest solar project in India. 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 Holdings Limited (SB Energy), a majority-owned subsidiary of SoftBank Group.

“SB Energy is committed to maintaining the highest quality ESG principles in all of our projects,” said Vijay Venkatachalam, CFO of SB Energy.

MUFG also acted as the original mandated lead arranger and lender, book-runner, 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 December 22, 2020.

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, said the company in a statement released in Singapore.

Colin Chen, MUFG’s Head of Structured Finance, Asia Investment Banking Division said in a statement that, “We would like to congratulate SoftBank for achieving yet another milestone towards its sustainability agenda”.

In September, ACWA Power, a leading Saudi Arabian developer, investor and operator of power generation plants, had announced that it had completed the signing of all financing agreements of the 900 MW solar PV project, Shuaa Energy 3 PSC, which is the fifth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (MBR) Solar Park in Dubai.

The project involves the construction of a state-of-the-art 900MW solar PV plant, using bi-facial panels with tracking technology at a capital cost of c. $564 million, and has been the focus of significant international interest, having demonstrated one of the lowest levelised cost of electricity in the world of USD cents 1.6953 per kWh.