Raja Mukherji
Professional History
Raja is a credit and investment specialist with more than 25 years’ experience structuring and executing complex credit transactions across Asia and North America. He has held senior roles at PIMCO and Apollo, where he built and managed large-scale credit platforms.
He delivers pragmatic, executable capital solutions in dislocated markets, bringing speed, certainty and disciplined pricing across loans and bonds. Raja is a trusted advisor to investors, lenders and borrowers, and serves as both an executive and non-executive director.
His transaction experience spans India, Hong Kong and South-East Asia, South Korea, Japan, Australia and the Americas, covering holdco and acquisition financing, rescue and liquidity financing, quasi-equity and hybrid capital, asset-backed and future-flow structures, and high yield bonds.
Selected Transaction Experience
US$750 million secured bond for Mumbai Airport, with a ring-fenced structure and an innovative excess cash flow sweep into escrow for up to 40% of principal. Mumbai became the first PPP airport in India to have a Substitution Agreement executed by the Airports Authority of India.
US$170 million holdco term loan to the promoter of Deccan Chemical, secured against its 58% stake in the onshore specialty chemicals business.
US$1.0 billion off-balance sheet lease financing for Reliance Jio’s 5G customer home equipment, developed jointly with the company using pass-through certificates and non-convertible debentures.
US$200 million financing of equity units in the infrastructure investment trust holding Reliance Jio’s fibre business, supported by a 30-year take-or-pay fibre contract with Jio.
US$1.0 billion of senior notes for Adani Ports to finance its greenfield port expansion plans in India.
US$500 million subordinated non-convertible debenture investment in InvIT logistics warehouse assets in India, backed by a 30-year sale and leaseback with India’s largest retail company.
US$1.0 billion of project finance bonds for Adani Green’s RG1 and RG3 solar assets.
US$300 million amortising secured bond for a new Adani Transmission restricted group, supported by a central grid power purchase agreement.
US$3.5 billion holdco acquisition term loan to finance Adani’s US$10.5 billion purchase of Holcim’s Indian cement assets.
US$500 million of quasi-permanent equity for Bharti Airtel’s fibre assets, together with the securitisation of its data centres and wireless towers.
US$500 million refinancing for Greenko’s operating wind, solar and pumped hydro assets, including quasi-equity hybrid capital with sponsor support.
Equity replacement solutions comprising US$500 million for spare engine and aircraft leasing for India’s second largest airline, a US$750 million minority equity investment in a captive port and a US$500 million quasi-equity solution for a domestic electric vehicle business.
US$600 million secured term loan to a large mining company, secured by a share pledge over Hindustan Zinc; and US$3 billion of compulsorily convertible preferred equity to deleverage the holding company.
US$880 million all-PIK financing for the acquisition of a non-banking financial company through the NCLT process.
US$200 million refinancing of the high-cost debt Kesoram Cement took on when it exited its debt restructuring.
US$250 million senior secured loan through an orphan SPV back-to-back structure to refinance INR debentures at Suzlon Energy Limited. The structure ring-fenced the cash flows of the high-margin, stable operations and maintenance business, Suzlon Global Services, from the parent’s capital-intensive wind turbine manufacturing.
US$500 million offshore SPV structure for Shriram Transport, secured against senior INR pass-through certificates issued by an Indian trust and backed by a pool of commercial vehicle loans, with a mandatory cash sweep and a 10% minimum retention requirement.
US$326 million senior secured floating rate note to fund Deepak Fertilizers’ greenfield ammonia plant. The notes were secured on all unencumbered manufacturing assets and the assignment of offtake contracts, with a parent guarantee and a personal guarantee from the promoter until all gas supply agreements were signed.
Sale of a mortgage pool of approximately US$500 million for a Hong Kong residential developer, with credit and yield enhancements including a developer first loss, top-up provisions and a guaranteed minimum portfolio yield.
US$1.0 billion quasi-equity solution for AESC/Envision’s electric vehicle battery manufacturing, supported by offtake contracts for its US and Japanese OEM plants.
US$1.0 billion future-flow financing of a Hong Kong airline’s cargo receivables through a bankruptcy-remote SPV. Customer payments were remitted into the IATA CASS centralised payment system to service the debt, with turbo repayment triggered if a minimum debt service coverage ratio was breached.
US$500 million pre-IPO quasi-equity solution for Olam Agriculture through a joint venture and asset carve-out structure.
US$750 million of senior perpetual notes to finance SATS’ acquisition of the WFS cargo business, together with equity replacement solutions using airside cargo warehouses and logistics facilities.
US$975 million sale of Seatrium/Sembcorp’s floating rig receivables from Transocean and Borr Drilling.
US$400 million bridge financing for a consortium bidding in the government privatisation of Manila Airport.
US$700 million exchangeable bond for a large Vietnamese conglomerate with a cash coupon, non-callable before the IPO of its EV business and with a put back to the parent at a minimum IRR if the IPO did not proceed.
US$500 million quasi-equity solution for Thai Beverage’s BeerCo, supported by a take-or-pay supply contract.
US$1.0 billion quasi-equity solution for the SSD NAND business of SK Hynix/Solidigm, supported by a fee-based support agreement from the parent.
US$500 million monetisation of SK E&S’s KEPCO capacity payment contract.
US$1.2 billion KRW-denominated whole loan to Korea’s largest hypermarket retailer, secured by its owned stores.
US$629 million KRW project finance facility for a Lotte Group high-end residential development in Gangnam, Seoul.
US$2.7 billion holdco sponsor financing structure presented to Korea’s largest container carrier to buy out the Korean state bank’s equity stake. The proposed structure included mandatory amortisation, a first-lien pledge over its unencumbered port terminals, and covenants covering minimum cash, minimum DSCR, minimum LTV (based on the residual value of vessels and the equity pledge) and maximum new vessel capex, together with a share transfer and enforcement agreement.
US$2.3 billion high yield bond rescue financing for Fortescue Metals Group to support liquidity and repay near-term maturities after iron ore prices fell by 60%.
Purchase in the secondary market of the equivalent of US$1.0 billion of Tokyo Electric Power’s JPY first mortgage bonds after the 2011 Fukushima earthquake. PIMCO’s purchase, followed by purchases from Japanese banks, restored liquidity to TEPCO’s JPY bonds, which had been trading at distressed prices.
US$3.3 billion of high yield bonds to partly finance SoftBank Group’s US$21.6 billion acquisition of Sprint Nextel Corporation.
US$1.0 billion acquisition financing for Bowater Inc’s purchase of Avenor Inc., a Canadian newsprint and pulp producer.
Merger financing of Jefferson Smurfit and Stone Container, comprising US$4.8 billion of term loans and US$750 million of high yield bonds, to create Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation, then the world’s largest containerboard and packaging producer.
US$1.1 billion of high yield bonds for Stone Container Corporation to refinance higher-coupon debt.
US$5.0 billion acquisition financing for International Paper Corporation’s purchase of Champion International, creating the world’s largest paper company.
US$2.6 billion of multicurrency high yield bonds for Calpine Corporation to refinance existing debt and fund the expansion of its merchant power plants.
US$1.2 billion high yield bond for NRG Energy to refinance bank debt and fund new power plant investments.
US$500 million senior secured rescue financing for Dynegy Holdings to shore up liquidity and repay near-term maturities following the collapse of Enron.
US$1.6 billion senior secured financing for AES Corporation to fund a bond exchange offer and near-term liquidity during the North American power sector crisis.
US$3.0 billion senior secured rescue financing following the default of PG&E National Energy Group, PG&E’s merchant generation and trading subsidiary.
US$800 million of senior secured notes for Ispat Inland to redeem part of its higher-cost debt and fund working capital.
US$450 million high yield bond to partly finance US Steel Corporation’s acquisition of National Steel Corporation.
US$550 million high yield bond for AK Steel Corporation to refinance expensive near-term debt.
US$425 million high yield bond for Tekni-Plex to refinance bank debt and fund capital investment.
US$2.3 billion high yield bond for Chesapeake Energy to refinance bank debt, remove prepayment obligations and develop new US shale concessions.
US$475 million senior secured financing for Bear Island Paper, split between a US$275 million bank term loan and a US$200 million high yield bond, to refinance bank debt and expand its primary paper mill.
US$8.5 billion of senior secured loans to finance Koch Industries’ US$21 billion buyout of Georgia-Pacific, one of the largest LBO financings of the mid-2000s credit cycle.
US$17.5 billion of senior secured term loans and high yield bonds to finance Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold’s acquisition of Phelps Dodge, creating the world’s largest publicly traded copper company.
US$4.2 billion of high yield bonds for Teck Resources to repay the bridge loan used to buy Fording Canadian Coal’s metallurgical coal mines.
US$3.25 billion Chapter 11 exit financing for LyondellBasell, split between a US$500 million term loan and US$2.75 billion of high yield secured bonds.
US$1.1 billion of senior secured bank loans and high yield bonds for Huntsman Corporation to partly pre-fund its out-of-court settlement following the failed merger with Hexion Specialty Chemicals, an Apollo portfolio company.
US$2.0 billion LBO financing for Apollo’s buyout of Berry Plastics, split between a US$1.2 billion term loan and a US$600 million second priority bond.
Out-of-court restructuring and exchange of US$1.0 billion of CEMEX high yield bonds as part of a US$15 billion liability management exercise.
US$1.0 billion of senior bonds for Vale to refinance pre-GFC bank debt and fund new mine expansion projects in Brazil.
US$1.0 billion of high yield bonds to fund Gerdau Steel’s global expansion.
US$1.0 billion of high yield bonds for Fibria Celulose to term out the acquisition debt from its merger with Aracruz Celulose.
US$1.0 billion of senior bonds for Codelco to refinance short-term debt and fund capex at the El Teniente copper mine.
US$1.3 billion of high yield bonds and pre-export receivables notes to finance Suzano Papel e Celulose’s market pulp capacity in Brazil.
US$500 million of senior notes for Arauco to fund new paper capacity in the United States and South America.