Gujarat NRE Coke on Thursday said it has paid $17.4 million for the conversion of its 174 zero coupons unsecured foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCB) to the bond holders.
The FCCBs were of $1,00,000 value each and were part of 600 FCCBs issued in 2006 by the company, aggregating to $60 million, it said in a statement. “Consequently, this FCCB issue has been fully converted by the bond holders,” it added.
“We have always delivered phenomenal returns to our long term investors and such full conversion of our FCCBs reflect immense confidence of foreign investors in our company,” said Mr Arun Kumar Jagatramka, Chairman, Gujarat NRE.
Of the 600 FCCBs, the company had already paid the conversion price for 324 FCCBs in past and today’s transaction of 174 completes the payment schedule.
Some time back, the company had successfully paid the conversion price of its previous issue of 2,200 FCCBs, issued at $25,000 each in 2005 and aggregating $55 million to its bond holders in past, the statement said.
About the ongoing expansion of company’s facilities, Gujarat NRE Chairman Mr Jagatramka said, “We are increasing our met coke production capacity from current 1.38 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to around 4 MTPA by 2014—15.”
The company owns and operates a coking coal mine in Australia, having around 625 MT of coking coal resources with excellent coking properties, the statement said.
Shares of the company closed at Rs 53.90 per share on the Bombay Stock Exchange, up 0.28 per cent from the previous close.