MTNL shareholders' approve Rs 6,500-cr NCD issue, monetisation of land and buildings

State-owned MTNL on Thursday said that it has received shareholders' approval for raising up to Rs 6,500 crore through issuance of non-convertible debentures as well as for monetisation of land and buildings.

During the extraordinary general meeting of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) which was held on Wednesday, 99.89 votes were cast in favour of the issuance of "guaranteed, unsecured, listed, redeemable non-convertible debentures in the nature of bonds (NCDs), in one or more series/tranches, aggregating up to Rs 6,500 crore on private placement basis," MTNL said in a filing to BSE.

The company further said that majority votes were cast in favour of the monetisation of land and buildings as specified/ identified by its board in line with the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) guidelines and as per revival plan of the company approved by the Union Cabinet recently.

It added that majority votes were polled in favour of monetisation of towers and fiber assets including leasing, after considering the market conditions with an aim to maximise returns as per the revival plan of the company, and non-convertible redeemable non-cumulative preference shares on a private placement basis to the government towards payment of 4G spectrum cost.

The government had earlier approved a Rs 69,000-crore revival package for BSNL and MTNL that included merging the two loss-making firms, monetising their assets and giving voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to employees so that the combined entity turns profitable in two years.

The companies have already announced VRS schemes. As per official estimates, 78,569 employees of BSNL and 14,387 employees of MTNL have opted for VRS.