If ONGC is relieved of its licence obligation, the onus of paying royalty will fall on the central government.
Tulsi Tanti and family, the promoters of wind turbine major Suzlon Energy, have sold 4 per cent of their stake in the company for about Rs 569 crore to part-finance the buy-out of the stake held in Suzlon's German subsidiary, REpower Systems AG, by Martifer SGPS of Portugal.
A total of 60 million shares were sold by the Tanti family today through open market transactions and their holding in Suzlon Energy will come down to approximately 60 per cent, the company informed the stock exchanges today. The promoters had over 65 per cent in Suzlon a few months ago.
The sellers were offering up to 60 million shares in the range of Rs 91-94 each, said sources. Suzlon’s share prices closed at Rs 89.05 at close of trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today, 5.37 per cent less than close of trading in the previous trading day close on Rs 94.24.
According to data from stock exchanges, promoters Rambhaben Ukabhai has sold 27.5 million shares representing 1.84 per cent stake, Girish R Tanti sold 23.5 million shares or 1.57 per cent stake and Nidhi Tanti sold 8.62 million shares representing 0.60 per cent stake.
In a similar deal, earlier this month, the promoters had sold 2 per cent of their stake to raise about $47 million or over Rs 220 crore. The promoter group does not envisage any need for further stake sale in the foreseeable future, said a company press release.
“The funds raised through the sale of this stake are going to be used primarily to advance inter-corporate deposits through promoter group entities to the Company to part-finance the buy-out of the stake held in REpower Systems AG by Martifer SGPS. This stake sale will ensure that the overall timeline in implementation of REpower integration is not delayed," said Tulsi Tanti, chairman and managing director of Suzlon.
He said leading investors such as DKR Oasis and Prudential Asia participated in the stake sale.
In January, this year, the cash-starved Suzlon — which is also facing quality issues with many of its rotor blades, had sold 10 per cent stake in its Belgium-based subsidiary Hansen Transmission to a London-based specialised investment firm Ecofin for about Rs 600 crore to acquire a stake in REpower.
This was after market conditions forced Suzlon shelve its plans of raising Rs 1,800 crore through a rights issue to fund the acquisition.
According to the terms, Suzlon has to increase its stake in REpower to 91 per cent, by acquiring the 22 per cent stake of Portugal’s Martifer.
Suzlon had to pay it in three tranches by payment of ¤65 million in December 2008, ¤30 million in April 2009, and ¤175 million in May 2009. The first two tranches have been paid by Suzlon.
Meanwhile, sources said the company is close to complete restructuring of its foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCB)s worth $500 million, which it raised for acquiring REpower. It has $300 million of zero-coupon convertible bonds due June 2012 and $200 million zero-coupon convertible bonds due October 2012.
“We are nearing completion of the process with three options given to the FCCB holders,” a company source close to the development said. He declined to reveal further details.
