Reliance Capital ( RCL), the Reliance group's non banking financial services company, has prepaid around Rs 600 crore of debt, one-and-a-half year ahead of schedule.
The debt in the form of secured redeemable non-convertible debentures (NCD) was held by several banks including Stanchart Grindlays , Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, ABN Amro Bank and UTI bank. The amounts were repaid in the last week of December 2001, said a senior company executive.
The largest chunk of around Rs 300 crore was prepaid to the Stanchart Grindlays group, while HSBC and ABN Amro accounted for another Rs 100 odd crore each.
The NCD's carried an average interest rate of around 12 per cent per annum. According to company sources, the debt was repaid since in the current scenario the interest rates were considered relatively high.
With this prepayment, the debt equity ratio of Reliance Capital stands reduced to 1.5:1 from the earlier 1.81:1.As per the last year's balance sheet, the company's equity capital stands at Rs 137.83 crore with reserves of around Rs 1901.91 crore as on March 31, 2001.
The ratings on the company's long term debt are rated at AA+ by the Credit Analysis and Research Ltd, indicating that instruments carrying this rating are of a high quality and investment grade.
RCL'S short term borrowing programme is also rated PR1+ by CARE , the highest credit rating that can be assigned to short term debt instruments.
Apart from having a strong presence in the mainline banking financial services , RCL has been increasing its presence in the leasing business as well as its investments in infrastructure sector. The company till date has invested over Rs 1,400 crore in power, ports and telecommunications.
