Petronet gets shareholders nod for Rs 1,000-cr bonds issue

Petronet LNG Ltd, India's biggest liquefied natural gas importer, has won shareholders' approval to raise Rs 1,000 crore through bonds this fiscal to pay off its existing costly debt.
Petronet shareholders at its annual general meeting (AGM) yesterday approved the proposal to raise Rs 1,000 crore through issuance of secured/unsecured non convertible debentures through private placement in one or more tranches during the financial year ending March 31.
In a stock exchange filing, Petronet said 99.99 per cent shareholders "voted in favour of the resolution."
At the AGM yesterday, Director (Finance) R K Garg said the company is taking an enabling approval of the shareholders to raise the funds that will be used to refinance the existing debt and/or to meet the capex requirement of the company.

The money raised through the bonds issue will be repayable in a maximum of 10 years.
Petronet had total borrowings of Rs 2,373.81 crore as of March 31, 2015. In 2014-15 fiscal, it had refinanced a part of its rupee term loans by substituting it with low-cost rupee bonds in the Indian markets for an amount of Rs 1,000 crore.

It also got shareholder approval for raising cap on foreign portfolio investors or FII shareholding in the company from 24 per cent to 30 per cent of paid up capital.
In a stock exchange filing, Petronet said 99.99 per cent of shareholders "voted in favour of the resolution."

Currently, equity share capital of the company is Rs 750 crore out of which 50 per cent is being held by our four promoters-state-owned GAIL, Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and ONGC.
Another 10 per cent is held by GdF of France while the remaining 40 per cent is with public including FIIs. Present holding of FIIs/FPIs in Petronet is more than 23 per cent which may reach above the threshold limit of 24 per cent of paid up capital in time to come.
The limit of 24 per cent may be increased up to sectoral cap/statutory ceiling by passing a resolution by the Board and followed by passing a special resolution to that effect by the shareholders in the General Meeting, the company said in the shareholder notice.

Petronet said raising the limit for FIIs shareholding in the company to 30 per cent will improve the liquidity in the market for PLL's shares.
The company plans to complete expansion of its Dahej LNG import facility in Gujarat to 15 million tonnes per annum from current 10 million tonnes by end of 2016, Garg had told the shareholders yesterday.