Cholamandalam Investment to raise up to Rs 6,700 cr

Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company at its board meeting today approved raising of up to Rs 6,700 crore in different slots by issuing non-convertible debentures.
The Board of Directors has approved: "Issue of 60,000 secured redeemable, non-convertible debentures of a face value of Rs 10 lakh each at par aggregating to Rs 6,000 crore in one or more tranches on private placement basis."
"Issue of 6,000 unsecured redeemable, non-convertible debentures...Aggregating to Rs 600 crore in one or more series on private placement basis and issue of 1,000 unsecured redeemable, non-convertible debentures aggregating to Rs 100 crores in one or more series on private placement basis", the company said in a BSE filing.

However, a time-frame to raise the said amount were not given by the company.
The company also reported a rise of 31 per cent in its consolidated net profit to Rs 148.03 crore for the third quarter ended December 31.
"Reasons behind the good results is low cost of funds, good distribution network and that we were able to lessen our bad loans... Also, there are good market opportunities", Company's CFO Arul Selvan said.

Besides, at the board meeting, the company has proposed to invest up to a sum of Rs 75 crore in equity shares of Cholamandalam Distribution Services Limited (CDSL), a 100 per cent subsidiary of the company in one or more tranches as a long term investment.

"With this investment, the total investment by the Company in CDSL will be at Rs 117.40 crore. The capital infusion is consequent to CDSL obtaining an in-principle approval for Payments Bank license from RBI", it said in the filing.
The company is expected to start the payment bank services in about 12 to 14 months, said Selvan, adding, the company is in the process of strengthening the point-of-touch base.
Besides, it will also invest Rs 8 crore in White Data Systems India Pvt Ltd (White Data), a majority held company, for a start-up freight aggregator imitative.
The firm is in the process of developing an app for the startup freight aggregator that will leverage technology to raise the transport operators earnings, Selvan said.