Thursday, May 10, 2007

Gail to raise Rs 15,000 cr from overseas

GAIL (India), the country’s largest transporter and marketer of natural gas, plans to raise over Rs 15,000 crore through overseas borrowings over the next five years. This is part of the Rs 25,000 crore the company plans to spend in the 11th Five Year Plan ending 2012.

The company is also likely to sell part of its stake in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to fund its projects, which include addition of almost 5,000 km of pipelines over the next five years.GAIL holds 2.4 per cent stake in ONGC, which at today’s share price of Rs 909 is worth Rs 4,672 crore.

The Company's debt to equity ratio is 0.12:1 which gives them the freedom to raise more debt. Moreover the company is close to being rated by Moody's, which will make it easier for them to raise money overseas.

The company has also lined up expenditure of Rs 2,744 crore during the current financial year. Of this, Rs 1,761 crore will be spent on laying new gas pipelines, Rs 500 crore on oil and gas exploration, Rs 146 crore on petrochemicals, and Rs 268 crore on new projects. GAIL currently generates around Rs 2,000 crore every year through its pipeline business.

Read more in The Business Standard article.

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