Ascendas India Secures S$100 Million Sustainability-Linked Loan
Ascendas India Trust (a-iTrust) has successfully obtained a five-year S$100 million unsecured sustainability-linked loan facility from UOB, Singapore. The facility is a-iTrust’s first sustainability-linked loan. The Trust intends to use the proceeds from the loan for general corporate and working capital requirements, including refinancing existing borrowings, the redevelopment of properties, acquisitions, capital expenditure or asset enhancement works of the Trust’s properties. Sanjeev Dasgupta, Chief Executive Officer of a-iTrust, in a statement said, “a-iTrust considers sustainability as a key driver of its value creation strategy. This is implemented through various initiatives towards the environmental and social well-being of the communities where it operates. Securing the Trust’s maiden sustainability-linked loan facility is testament to the Trust’s effort in minimising its environmental footprint.” “The Trust is committed to continuously increase the proportion of its properties which are certified “Gold” or “Platinum”, amidst the Trust’s plans to grow its portfolio. In doing so, it is also able to achieve a lower cost of borrowing for the Trust. This is also in line with CapitaLand Group’s overall green building rating targets of achieving green certifications for all new and existing buildings in its portfolio by 2030.” On March 29, 2021, a-iTrust announced its acquisition of two buildings in an IT Park located at Hebbal, Bangalore with a total leasable area of up to 1.65 million sq ft and on February 16, 2021, a-iTrust announced its acquisition of aVance 6, a fully operational and tenanted IT Special Economic Zone building with a total area of approximately 0.64 million sq ft, at HITEC City in Hyderabad.