No Thapar House Sale

Thapar House, the seat of power for several Thapar group companies, is no longer on the block. The Thapars have dropped the plan to mortgage the building, a prime property located in the heart of New Delhi, as collateral against loans. The decision was taken after group company JCT Ltd scrapped its proposed $30 million through the FCNR (B) route. This was disclosed by Samir Thapar, joint managing director, JCT Ltd. "Thapar House is no longer mortgaged. We have dropped our FCNR plan against which Thapar House was to be pledged as a collateral. Since the plan has been scrapped, there is no need for the mortgage" hesaid. JCT Ltd, which had planned the loan for the middle of this year, junked the FCNR loan option in favour of ECBs in order to reduce its interest burden.

The company is planning a $45 million ECB early next year, and it is expected to bring down its average interest rate burden from about 22 per cent to around 12 per cent.

JCT had planned a $30 million FCNR (B) loan at a rate of about 9 per cent from HongKong bank by offering the Thapar House at Delhi as a collateral.

The company is currently implementing a financial package to replace a portion of its existing high-cost debt with comparatively cheaper foreign currency loans besides sale of assets, merger of all subsidiaries to the parent company and streamlining its workforce.