Mumbai, Dec 18 (IANS) Wind energy major Suzlon Friday said it had paid back $780 million in loans it took to acquire the Belgium-based Hansen Transmissions International, thus reducing the debt burden on its books by 15 percent.
The funds to repay the debt came out of a 35 percent stake sale in Hansen Transmissions, which happened last month and a $465 million loan from the State Bank of India, the company said in a regulatory statement.

The move has resulted in Suzlon’s debt burden coming down by $350 million.

“This transaction concludes the first phase of our refinancing exercise and has achieved an overall improvement in our debt profile, with a reduction of nearly 15 percent or $350 million. We continue to work towards optimising our capital structure,” said Sumant Sinha, chief operating officer, Suzlon Energy.

Suzlon has been plagued over the past year with declining orders and reports of its equipment being termed substandard by some of its US customers.

The wind power producer has also been grappling with an over-leveraged balance sheet, used primarily to fuel the company’s global acquisitions.

Suzlon had said earlier this week that it was planning to refinance about $2.8 billion of debt by end of January.