India's Azure Power kicks off USD-180m IPO in New York

Indian solar power producer Azure Power Global Ltd on Thursday announced the launch of an up to USD-180.3-million (EUR 160.4m) initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

The company said it will sell a bit over 5.86 million equity shares at an estimated price of between USD 21.00 and USD 23.00 apiece. At the same time, some of the firm’s existing shareholders, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), will be selling a further 954,545 shares. Azure Power expects to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to buy over 1 million of additional shares at the IPO price.

At the midpoint of the estimated range, the company expects to raise some USD 114 million from the offering, or USD 134.9 million in the event that the underwriters exercise their option. Azure Power will not receive proceeds from the sale of the shares owned by its current stockholders. It has applied to list its stock on NYSE under the symbol “AZRE”.

The company intends to use most of the fresh capital to fund the purchase of equity shares to be issued by its operating subsidiary Azure Power India Pvt Ltd (AZI), which in turn will spend the amount to cover growth capital requirements, finance new project development and for other general corporate purposes.

Azure Power sells electricity to government utilities and independent industrial and commercial customers in India. As at the end of July, it ran 24 large plants and several commercial rooftop systems totalling 357 MW. Its total portfolio capacity amounts to 1 GW, when committed projects and plants under construction are added to the calculation.

The company’s goal is to have 520 MW of operational solar power plants by the end of the year and, in the long term, to reach 5 GW committed or operating by December 31, 2020, it says in a regulatory filing.

Barclays and Credit Suisse serve as joint book-running managers, while Roth Capital Partners is acting as a co-manager of the offering.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.890)

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