The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank Group’s financial arm, has extended its support to Continuum Green Energy by subscribing to 10% of the company’s first green bond, which was listed on the Singapore stock exchange on February 10.

The offering raised nearly $561 million (~₹40.79 billion) and was oversubscribed. The company will use the proceeds from the bond’s issuance to refinance its existing debts, IFC said.

Continuum, one of the largest renewable energy providers to the commercial and industrial sectors in the country, has nearly 2 GW of wind and solar projects.

Arvind Bansal, CEO of Continuum, said, “We are delighted to continue our long-standing partnership with IFC through our first green bond. As a pioneer in the green bond market, IFC’s knowledge and successful track record as an issuer, investor, and adviser will continue to help stand our company on solid ground and support India in a resilient recovery from the pandemic. This offering enables us to diversify our sources of funding further, and we look forward to strengthening our partnership with global investors.”

IFC is one of the largest financiers of clean technology projects. Since 2005 it has invested $22.2 billion (~₹1.61 trillion) in long-term financing and has raised an additional $15.7 billion (~₹1.14 trillion) from other investors for clean energy and climate-related projects.

Isabel Chatterton, regional industry director for natural resources and infrastructure, Asia Pacific at IFC, said, “IFC’s investment will help Continuum maintain sustainable power generation across India and position it to deliver projects under development as the country emerges from the pandemic. It will also help support India in its ambitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, at a time when private capital is most needed to fund infrastructure projects and support green, resilient economic recovery.”

According to a report by the Climate Bonds Initiative, global green bond issuance reached a record high of $269.5 billion (~₹19.59 trillion) in 2020, a 1.12% increase compared to $266.5 billion (~₹19.37 trillion) in 2019, due to a late surge in the second half of 2020.

In October last year, ReNew Power, an Indian independent power producer, raised around $325 million (~₹23.63 billion) through overseas green bonds. Earlier, CLP Wind Farms (India) raised ₹2.96 billion (~$40.51 million) from its green bonds.