The Hindu Business Line : Sical to raise $125 m thru convertible bonds, GDRs

Sical Logistics Ltd (formerly South India Corporation Agencies Ltd) plans to raise about Rs 550 crore ($125 million) through a mix of foreign currency convertible bonds and global depository receipts.

According to a company press release, the funds will be used towards the coal and iron ore terminal project being set up on build-operate-transfer basis at Ennore; for container trains on all-India licence for the Jawaharlal Nehru Port-Delhi and three other sectors; offshore logistics; trucking; and working capital.

To seek shareholders' nod

The release said that an earlier plan for a rights issue of shares, preferential allotment and convertible warrants had been cancelled.

The company would seek its shareholders' approval at an extraordinary general meeting on March 29.

The release quoted Mr Ashwin Muthiah, Vice-Chairman, Sical, as saying that the board considered strategic context and shareholder value as the prime deciding factors in favour of the foreign currency convertible bonds-GDR route.

"We believe that, taking into account market valuation and Sical's business priorities, an FCCB-GDR mix is a sensible option: one, it is relatively fast; two, timing-wise being closer to the market, we increase the probability of getting better valuations; three, geographically our investor base gets more international," Mr Ashwin Muthiah said.

Ramkumar is new MD

The press release also said that Mr R. Ramkumar, Director and COO - Logistics Division, would be Sical's new Managing Director, succeeding Mr S. Vasudevan, who would be the managing director of the new entity consisting of the non-core divisions that were proposed to be hived off from Sical.

Sical's shares closed at Rs 440.05 on Thursday, up from Rs 438.35 on Wednesday.

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