Essar Ports refinances Rs 405 cr loan

Essar Ports plans has refinanced Rs 405 crore loan for its Hazira bulk terminal to save Rs 10 crore annually in interest cost.  The company announced on Thursday it has tied up with India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd to refinance the loan. The move will enable the ports company to reduce its interest by two percent. The loan was obtained for construction of 30 million tonne bulk capacity bulk terminal at Hazira in Gujarat.

Essar Ports which has equity investment from Antwerp port has a total debt of about a billion dollars (about Rs 5,500 crore) and is considering additional debt saving measures for its port projects . Shailesh Sawa, director (finance) of Essar Ports said: "As part of our constant endeavour to reduce the cost of debt we have availed ourselves of the government  initiated scheme of take out finance. We will undertake more such initiatives to deliver bettern return to our shareholders."

 

The company reported 73% rise in net profit to Rs 68.5 crore on the back of 18% growth in revenue. The company which  runs ports in Hazira and Vadinar and is developing terminals at Paradip in Orissa had reported a full year loss of Rs 71 crore in last fiscal. 

According to reports the  promoter's  plan  to raise up to Rs 1,000 crore by reducing their  stake in Essar Ports to 75% from existing 80.3% over the next six months. The company has initiated talks with investors and is looking at the institutional placement programme (IPP) route, private placement or bulk sale in the market, a recent media report said.