HPL gets approval from CDR panel for investment in Basell

14-May-05

A Purnendu Chatterjee led consortium won the race for Basell last week for US$5.7 billion. Chatterjee has been in Mumbai to hold talks with banks and financial institutions (FIs) which could help him arrange cash for the deal. The The Chatterjee Group (TCG) chief wants HPL to bring in Rs 1500-2000 crore for a minority stake in Basell. A special cell of lenders led by the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) have given the green signal to Haldia Petrochemicals' (HPL) investment in Basell Polyolefins. The corporate debt restructuring (CDR) panel gave the approval after a series of discussions with Purnendu Chatterjee of TCG. Chatterjee now needs approval from the other shareholder in HPL- the Bengal government, for the infusion. HPL showed a profit of Rs 575 crore in 2004-05 and fulfilled all conditions set by the debt-recast panel. HPL had an equity of Rs 1,153 crore before it went to the special lenders' group. Now, the figure is Rs 1,410 crore. TCG and associates have pumped Rs 150 crore into HPL, as required under the debt revamp plan. The company repaid debts of Rs 468 crore on July 31, 2004. Banks and FIs have also converted debts of Rs 107 crore into equity.