Cranes nearing closure of debt restructuring

Cranes Software, the Bangalore-based publicly-held software products company in the engineering and analytics space, is at an advanced stage of negotiations with its lenders — both Indian and international financial institutions to restructure its debt.

The company, which had raised debt to fund its acquisitions as part of its expansion plans, has around Rs 680 crore of secured debt. According to investment bankers close to the company, around Rs 300 crore of this debt has been settled and the company is in talks with banks to restructure a part of it and settle the rest. In addition to this debt, Cranes has FCCB borrowings of Rs 225 crore, which is also going through a process of restructuring.

The company, in addition to restructuring debt, is also in the process of roping in both strategic or private equity investors in two of its three subsidiaries. According to investment bankers in the industry, Cranes is looking to raise equity by offloading 26-49 per cent in two of its three subsidiaries — engineering, analytics and technology. Sources indicate that engineering and technology divisions have got at least three investment proposals. Asif Khader, MD, Cranes Software, declined to comment on the specifics but added that the restructuring of debt is in its advanced stages.

Since 1991, Cranes has been effecting an expansion strategy of acquiring software products, adding value and expanding its available market. It has over the past six years spent close to Rs 500 crore to acquire 16 companies or product IPs. It invested Rs 800 crore accrued from profits in enhancing and expanding the software products it acquired.