Citi Venture, India Equity pick up 15% in Jai Balaji Inds

Kolkata-based steelmaker Jai Balaji Industries is diluting a 15 per cent stake in favour of Citi Venture Capital Fund and India Equity Partners, as a part of its Rs 587 crore fund-raising programme.

Citi Venture Capital Fund and India Equity Partners will be subscribing to 61.18 lakh and 22.41 lakh compulsorily convertible debentures of Rs 326.90 each respectively to be converted into one equity share for each debenture, aggregating to Rs 273.25 crore, representing 11 per cent and 4 per cent of the diluted equity share.

The company will simultaneously issue 96 lakh warrants at Rs 326.90 each to promoters and others to be converted into one equity share within a period of 18 months.

The preferential allotment is subject to approval of the shareholders at the company's forthcoming extraordinary general meeting. The Jai Balaji stock today declined 2.63 per cent to Rs 422.85 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The money raised (Rs 587 crore) will meet the funding required for its expansion plans. The company officials said the funds would be used for its brownfield projects.

Jai Balaji is setting up a 48 mw power plant, 1.2 million tonnes pellet plant and a ferro alloys plant at Durgapur. "This is a part of our Rs 2,500-crore expansion programme announced in 2005," they said.

Jai Balaji has recently signed a memorandum of agreement with the West Bengal government to set up integrated steel, power and cement plants at an investment of Rs 16,000 crore.

However, the funds would not be utilised for the Bengal project. The company officials said the investment in the Bengal project would be made over a 10-year period.

The company has recently acquired the steel division of HEG in Chhattisgarh and also purchased a 100 per cent stake in Nilachal Iron & Power in Jharkhand.

Jai Balaji recorded a turnover of Rs 527 crore and a profit after tax of Rs 51 crore for the half year compared with a turnover of Rs 1,073 crore and a profit after tax of Rs 62 crore for the full year ended March 31, 2007.