Industrial gas major BOC has borrowed around INR 800 crore from its overseas parent Linde AG for financing two upcoming air separation units one for Rourkela Steel Plant and the other for TATA Steel.

Mr S Menon MD of BOC told reporters that the money has already come in and drawdown would take place according to the capital expenditure needs.

Mr Menon said the gaps in expenditure would be bridged by internal accruals since there was no plan to raise funds through equity. Linde holds 89.48% of the total paid-up capital of the company and has no elbow room left for infusion of funds through equity. Under the rules, BOC parent cannot cross the 90% equity holding ceiling unless it wants to delist the shares from the local exchanges.

Mr Pawan Mardia company secretary explained that “The unsecured borrowing from Linde has been done through the ECB route for the two specific projects. For Rourkela the borrowing is INR 385.76 crore and for the TATA Steel project at Jamshedpur, INR 395 crore. Till December 31, the company had drawn down INR 117.76 core for Rourkela and significant part of it has been utilized for the project. For Jamshedpur project, the draw down has not begun yet. The total cost of the Rourkela gas unit is INR 450 crore and for the Jamshedpur facility it is INR 600 crore.”

(Sourced from BL)