| Senior company executives told Business Standard that Petronet would sign agreements with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KFW) of Germany for partial guarantee for the bond programmes. |
| Petronet is finalising a $67-million credit enhancement guarantee from the ADB for the first Rs 400 crore bond programme. The money raised through bonds will be at a 1 per cent lower interest rate and will be used to prepay partially the existing long-term debt of Rs 1,804 crore. ADB holds 5 per cent equity in Petronet. |
| The company is also planning a Rs 700-crore bond programme, though not immediately. This programme is likely to be guaranteed by KFW. Money from the bonds will be utilised to fund the Rs 1,000-crore expansion programme for the Dahej terminal. |
| The 30 per cent equity portion for the expansion would not be through raising fresh equity, Petronet Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Suresh Mathur told Business Standard. |
| The share premium of Rs 165 crore earned during the company's initial public offer will be invested in the project as Petronet's equity. The remaining equity portion of Rs 135 crore will come from internal accruals. |
| The expansion of the Dahej terminal from a capacity of 5 to 10 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) will begin next year and is expected to be completed by 2008, according to Mathur. |
| Alongside, the company will set up another LNG terminal at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore at Kochi in Kerala. |
| The Kochi terminal will have a capacity of 2.5 million tonne. This terminal was planned along with the Dahej terminal but the company put it on hold till such time the demand for LNG picked up in the region. |
| Mathur said the Kochi terminal was being planned in a way to raise its capacity to 5 million tonnes in future and the construction would be completed in two-and-a-half years. |
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