Tata group retail chain Trent Ltd on Monday said it is seeking shareholders’ approval to allot up to 2.46 crore equity shares to Tata Sons.
Trent plans to raise funds through preferential allotment of shares to promoter Tata Sons to finance expansion and reduce debt.
The shareholders are requested to “record their assent (for) or dissent (against) in the postal ballot form and return the same” by July 24, Trent Ltd said in a BSE filing.
“Postal ballot forms received after that date will be strictly treated as if a reply from such Member has not been received,” Trent added.
According to the Tata Enterprise owned firm, the company will utilise the proceeds from the preferential issue to fund the various related growth plans, projects and future investments.
Post the preferential allotment, Tata Sons’ holding in Trent will increase to 32.73 per cent from existing 27.74 per cent, while the overall promoters’ holding in the retail firm will rise to 37.27 per cent from 32.61 per cent at present.
Tata Group’s retail arm Trent Ltd on June 18, had announced plans to raise up to ₹1,550 crore in the current financial year through a combination of issuance of shares to its promoter Tata Sons on a preferential basis and other options, to fund its expansion.
The company had said the total amount to be raised from issuance of shares to the promoter is about ₹950 crore.
Separately, Trent said, “independent of the above issuance, the board of directors also appointed a committee of the board to explore options to raise additional funds not exceeding ₹600 crore in the financial year 2019-20 by issue of equity shares or other securities including through qualified institutional placement, rights issue or any other permissible mode or a combination thereof.”
Established in 1998 as part of the Tata Group, Trent Ltd had reported a revenue of ₹2,109 crore and PAT of ₹117 crore.