Bharat Forge to raise $150 mn for expansion

Leading auto parts maker Bharat Forge today said its board has approved raising $150 million through equity-cum-debt issue for expansion into non-automotive areas like power and oil and gas.

The board had earlier approved raising of funds through qualified institutional placement (QIP).

"We are keeping the same $150 million except that we are making a little broad base in terms of approval so that we can optimise how much equity, how much debt," Kalyani told private television channel in an interview.

He, however, added that it is not yet figured out exactly the amounts of debt and equity but there will be a mixture in terms of the instruments that we would ultimately put in.

The four new areas the company is looking at are  power, oil and gas exploration, aerospace and construction and general capital goods equipments.

Kalyani said the company will witness better margins as it increases the mix of non-automotive businesses. "These are niche products...With high level of technology, there are not commodity products to therefore I believe the margins would definitely be better."