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The Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) Group is preparing to raise around $2.5 billion (Rs. 22,000 crore) in the first quarter of 2025 to reduce its high-cost debt burden. The move is part of a larger financial restructuring exercise aimed at improving balance-sheet efficiency and lowering interest expenses.
According to people familiar with the matter, the fundraising will mainly help retire about $1.7 billion (Rs. 15,000 crore) in existing debt held by the group’s infrastructure arm, Goswami Infratech. This marks the second phase of SP Group’s capital restructuring plan, following earlier efforts to monetise assets and bring down leverage.
“Refinancing is step two, which will happen in Q1,” said a person aware of the development. “Step one involves amending existing bond terms to allow investors to choose whether they want early repayment in December or prefer to stay invested until maturity.”
The group has begun reaching out to its current investors to share these amended terms. Originally, the bonds carried an optional repayment date in December 2025, but SP Group has now proposed aligning it with the final maturity in April 2026. The Goswami facility was first raised in June 2023 at an 18.75% yield. Since then, SP Group has already repaid a portion of it using proceeds from the Afcons listing and the sale of port assets such as Gopalpur and Dharamtar.
Roughly $1.7 billion still remains outstanding. Deutsche Bank, which helped arrange the initial 2020 Goswami financing, is once again involved in the refinancing process and is expected to backstop the transaction. This ensures that any investors choosing to exit will still receive repayment on time.
“There’s no change to the core terms or covenants,” another person close to the matter clarified. “It’s simply about aligning the optional redemption date with the bond’s maturity. Investors still have the flexibility to either redeem early or continue holding their positions.”
The Goswami bonds are widely held by prominent global funds, including Deutsche Bank, Cerberus, Värde Partners, Farallon, and Davidson Kempner. Many of these investors had also participated in earlier tranches of SP Group’s financing rounds.
Earlier this year, in May, SP Group had raised $3.35 billion through three-year non-convertible debentures (NCDs) carrying a 19.75% annual yield. Those bonds were secured against the group’s 9.2% stake in Tata Sons, held via Sterling Investment, along with assets from its real estate business, Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate, and its energy division, SP Energy.
SP Group is among India’s oldest and most diversified infrastructure conglomerates, with interests spanning construction, real estate, energy, and ports. It also owns an 18.37% stake in Tata Sons, the unlisted holding company of the Tata Group, India’s most valuable conglomerate. Based on the listed Tata companies alone, SP Group’s stake is estimated to be worth over Rs. 3 lakh crore ($35 billion).
The planned refinancing is expected to give the group more breathing room, reduce its borrowing costs, and strengthen its financial position ahead of key growth initiatives in infrastructure and real estate.
