Essar Shipping Ports and Logistics has said it will raise $1.9 billion by the end of this year for its various expansion plans.
The company has laid out an expansion plan for $2.5 billion in the next three years. The amount would be invested with a mix of equity of $600 million and the rest through debt.
"We will raise the money by the end of this year. For the port business, we will borrow from Indian banks and for shipping and logistic businesses we will borrow from abroad," Essar Shipping Ports and Logistics Director V Ashok told PTI.
At present shipping contributes 65 per cent of revenues to the group. After 2010-11, Essar expects shipping revenue to come down to 50 per cent.
"Over the last year, we have reorganised our businesses from a mere shipping company. As shipping is a cyclical business, it becomes too difficult to manage," he said.
So the company decided to enter the port sector, which would bring in revenues throughout the year and is looking at building terminals at ports. Simultaneously, it entered logistic business working for Essar Steel and Essar Oil.
"We have become an integrated player in India, which is unique. We have embarked upon to build a third-party logistic business. We want to expand logistics in a major way," he said.
"We are looking at a variety of projects across ports and terminals," Ashok said.
