India: Project Meridian (AIIB-000776)

Regions
  • South Asia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • India
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Dec 14, 2023
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Mahindra Susten Private Limited
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Energy
  • Finance
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Equity
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 73.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 73.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Corporate Actor Documents
Media Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ AIIB website

Updated in EWS Jan 16, 2024

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

As stated by the AIIB, the objective of the project is to support the development of Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) as an infrastructure asset class in India by financing the InvIT's acquisition of renewable energy assets.

Mahindra Susten Private Limited (MSPL), backed by Mahindra Group and 2726522 Ontario Limited (a 100% subsidiary of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (OTPPB) jointly referred to as the Sponsors, have set-up and registered an Infrastructure Investment Trust under the SEBI InvIT Regulations called Sustainable Energy Infra Trust. The Trust is set up with an investment strategy focused on renewable energy, supporting India to achieve its Net Zero targets. The Trust will acquire from the Sponsors' portfolio consisting of eight 100 percent operational solar power projects of 1.54 gigawatt peak (GWp) capacity.

AIIB's investment into Units (InvIT Units) to be issued by the Sustainable Energy Infra Trust will finance the Project, which consists of the Trust's acquisition of eight identified renewable energy assets, by de-leveraging and paying the Trust's set-up expenses. By supporting the formation of SEIT, Sponsors will be provided an efficient financing channel to monetize investments in revenue-generating infrastructure assets, thereby freeing up the much-needed capital for Sponsors to undertake new project development. In addition, the Project contributes to mobilizing private capital, and building the capital-raising track record of InvITs as an infrastructure asset class in India.

The Portfolio Assets encompass eight identified solar plants in operation for several years, across five states in India. All the assets are built on land not suitable for agricultural activities, largely provided by the government or purchased from local stakeholders following the willing buyer and willing seller arrangements. The Project Team's field validation as well as external legal counsel's due diligence has not identified any legacy concerns in respect of lands of the assets.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

People Affected By This Project
People Affected By This Project refers to the communities of people likely to be affected positively or negatively by a project.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.
Private Actor Relationship
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated on the company's website, Sustainable Energy Infra Trust is an Indian Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT), sponsored by 2726522 Ontario Limited (a 100% subsidiary of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board) and Mahindra Susten Private Limited.

The Sponsors established the Trust on July 20, 2023, and the Trust was registered with SEBI as an Infrastructure Investment Trust under the InvIT Regulations on August 11, 2023, with registration number IN/InvIT/23-24/0027. The Trust proposes to focus on investments in renewable energy power plants.

As per CRISIL's report, on MSPL dropping its entire current portfolio of operating renewable energy assets into the Trust, SEIT would become India's largest renewable energy InvIT.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Axis Trustee Services Ltd. Undisclosed Finance

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

AIIB Team Leader:

Neeraj Jain - Senior Investment Officer
Email: neeraj.jain@aiib.org

Implementing Agency - Sustainable Energy Infra Trust:

Devjeet Ghosh - General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer
Email: compliance@seit.co.in
Address: Mahindra Towers, Pandurang Budhkar Marg, Near Doordarshan Kendra, Worli, Mumbai 400018
Phone: +91 22 2490 1441
Website: www.seit.co.in

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.aiib.org/en/contact/information-request/index.html

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF AIIB

The AIIB has established the Accountability Mechanism for Project-Affected People (PPM). The PPM provides Òan opportunity for an independent and impartial review of submissions from Project-affected people who believe they have been or are likely to be adversely affected by AIIBÕs failure to implement the ESP in situations when their concerns cannot be addressed satisfactorily through Project level GRMs or AIIB Management processes.Ó Two or more project-affected people can file a complaint. Under the current AIIB policy, when the bank co-finances a project with another development bank, it may apply the other bank's standards. You can refer to the Project Summary Information document to find out which standards apply. You can learn more about the PPM and how to file a complaint at: https://www.aiib.org/en/about-aiib/who-we-are/project-affected-peoples-mechanism/how-we-assist-you/index.html

The complaint submission form can be accessed in Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Bengali, Chinese, English, Tagalog, Hindi, Nepali, Russian, Turkish, or Urdu. The submission form can be found at: https://www.aiib.org/en/about-aiib/who-we-are/project-affected-peoples-mechanism/submission/index.html

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