WIND GIANT RE-EMERGING

Suzlon Says Orders `Absolutely Sufficient' to Repay $2.2 Billion in Loans
Natalie Obiko Pearson, February 7, 2011 (Bloomberg News)

"Suzlon Energy Ltd., the world’s third-biggest maker of wind turbines, said it’s booking orders fast enough to resume making payments on 100 billion rupees ($2.2 billion) in borrowings in April next year.

"…[The India-based second-most indebted clean- energy company through syndicated loans] reported that cumulative orders rose 35 percent from October to a record $7.3 billion, equal to about 5,000 megawatts of power capacity…Suzlon, under pressure to ramp up sales before a 2-year grace period on principal repayments ends, rose as much as 4.6 percent in Mumbai trading even after the company reported its fourth straight quarterly loss…"

From Bloomberg - click to enlarge

"…Suzlon last April had to refinance 100 billion rupees in loans taken from banks including Citibank Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, Barclays Plc and ICICI Bank Ltd. after the global recession dried up orders for wind farms and squeezed margins for turbine sales…Suzlon’s shares have lost about 32 percent in the last 12 months. The Bloomberg Wind Energy Index rose about 1.6 percent in the period. The index tracks 64 wind power generators and suppliers globally, including Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Siemens AG, and Alstom SA."

From Bloomberg - click to enlarge

"Suzlon carries $2.3 billion in syndicated loans, the most among global renewable-energy companies except for Suntech Power Holdings Co., which has $7.8 billion in such loans…Loan repayments in the first two years [of the eight-year repayment period] will only amount to about 5 percent of the money owed…with subsequent payments increasing…

"…1.72 billion rupees of Suzlon’s third- quarter loss of 2.54 billion rupees [can be attributed] to a weaker euro that devalued overseas assets…While Suzlon is seeing ‘significant improvement’ in orders in India, sales in terms of megawatt capacity for the fiscal year ending March 31 are still expected to be 36 percent below their all-time high of 2,790 megawatts in 2009…"