Suzlon sees CDR exit by March as April-July orders swell to 75.60 MW

With renewed demand for wind power equipment Suzlon Energy is aiming to exit debt restructuring by March 2017, becoming the fastest company to come out of corporate debt restructuring.

Suzlon-Energy, one of the leading renewable energy solution providers in the world, on Thursday said its total order book stood 75.60 MW of fresh wind capacities across various public sector undertaking (PSU) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) during April-July 2016-17.

Suzlon Energy shares jumped over 8 per cent on strong volumes on Friday, after the turbine maker said it will exit corporate debt restructuring (CDR) in eight months. Under CDR, companies can hope to come out of debt trap by working with banks to reschedule loans.

Suzlon was forced to enter CDR in 2013 after its $1.56 billion deal to buy German wind energy firm RePower in 2007 ran into trouble. The debt load on account of RePower (now renamed Senvion) badly hurt Suzlon, causing a default in foreign currency convertible debt in 2012.

"We will be the fastest company to come out of CDR," said Suzlon's founder and chairman Tulsi Tanti.

Going ahead, Suzlon expects its cash balance to exceed its debt in five years as it increases operating capacity and cuts its interest payments, he added.

Suzlon plans to add 15 gigawatts of wind and solar energy capacity over the next five years to its current asset base of 9.5 gigawatts.

Suzlon said it has a mixed bag of retail orders from customers across diverse industry segments, including food, textiles, chemical, real estate, entertainment and manufacturing.

These orders comprise of Suzlon's latest product offerings and includes Slll90m tubular tower, S97 120m hybrid tower and S97 90m tubular tower with a rated capacity of 2.1 MW each.

Suzlon will provide the entire gamut of turnkey solutions right from equipment supply till commissioning and also offer dedicated life cycle asset management services for a contractually defined period to these customers.

Out of the total orders of 75.6 MW, orders of 42 MW were received in Ql of FY2017 while 33.60 MW orders received in July 2016. The projects are spread across the key windy states of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh and are scheduled to be completed by March 2017.