Mideast Integrated Steel Ltd (MISL), a Mesco group company having a one million tonne pig iron plant at Kalinganagar in Jajpur district of Orissa, has paid off all its debts through a debt restructuring plan.
“We have become the first steel company in the country to be a debt free,” claimed J K Singh, chairman, MISL.
“The financial fundamentals of the company have become stronger after clearing all the debts, both secured and unsecured, from internal accruals,” he told newsmen after the company board meeting.
The company has paid back Rs 17 crore loan taken from the state-owned Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd (IPICOL) and approximately Rs 25 crore loan taken from the UK-based Stemcor group. It has also cleared all other debts from its book after a complex debt restructure plan which was devised seven years back.
MISL, which had started production in 2005, has been making steady profits for last three years. Singh, however, declined to divulge the financial details and said, the turnover and profitability of the company are expected to increase substantially in the future.
The company has, so far, invested Rs 2,500 crores in its steel plant and mines. It plans to invest Rs 10,000 crore more set up facilities for producing long steel products. It has already commissioned a sinter plant at Kalingnagar and is in the process of building a railway siding having capacity of six million tonne with automation facility.
In the near future, the company would need about Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 crore funding to increase its steel capacity from 1.2 million to 3 million tonne.
“The capital we want to raise for expansion will be of mixed bag, comprising both equity and debt,” said Reeta Singh, managing director, MISL.
The company has completed all its formalities to get re-listed in Bhubaneswar Stock Exchange (BhSE), she informed.
