Tata Chemicals raises Rs 15K cr to repay loan

24 Nov 2008, 1935 hrs IST, PTI

MUMBAI: Tata Group firm Tata Chemicals on Monday said its US-based subsidiary has raised $ 300 million (Rs 1,500 crore) by way of syndicate funding to repay loan taken to acquire a firm in the US.

The funds have been raised to repay the $350 million bridge loan taken by Valley Holdings Inc, the US subsidiary of Tata Chemicals, for the acquisition of General Chemical Industrial Products Inc (GCIP).

While, Tata Chemicals has already paid $ 50 million from internal accruals, the company said in a statement.

"Despite the current global financial market conditions, it was heartening to see the faith shown by financial institutions in underwriting the funding," Tata Chemicals Executive Vice President and CFO P K Ghose said.

GCIP has successfully completed the underwriting for the funding of $ 300 million, the statement added.

However, the facility is without any recourse to Tata Chemicals, it added.

At present, the global syndication process is underway and is expected to be completed by December 2008.

This is a six-year door to door facility with attractive pricing, it said.

The transaction has been managed by Standard Chartered Bank-led consortium, which includes ABN Amro Bank, ANZ Banking Group, HSBC Bank, Calyon and State Bank of India, Tata Chemicals said.

In early 2008, Valley Holdings had acquired the soda ash producer General Chemical Industrial Products.

Shares of the company closed at Rs 140.55, up 2.37 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange.