UltraTech Cement wins two coal linkage auctions
Aditya Birla Group-controlled UltraTech Cement Ltd has won two coal linkages for its cement plants in Maharashtra.
The company had participated in the auction of coal linkages for the cement sector and won the Penganga OC mines and Mana Incline mine in Maharashtra, the company said in a statement to the BSE.
UltraTech has won the Penganga OC mine for a basic floor price of Rs1,510 and a premium of Rs 20 per tonne. The bid price for the Mana Incline mine was at a basic floor price of Rs.2,060 per tonne, the company said in the statement.
A formal communication vesting the said linkages in the company?s favour is expected in due course and it intends to participate in the future linkage auctions for its plants located strategically near the coal mines, the company said.
Emami eyes pan-India cement footprint
The Emami group plans to have a national footprint for its cement business in the next five-seven years by setting up plants in Rajasthan and Karnataka. "We have plans to set up cement plants in Rajasthan and Karnataka. After that we will have a national footprint in cement in the next five to seven years," Director of Emami Group Aditya Agarwal said.
Emami Cement, a group company, is in the process of setting up a plant at Panagarh in West Bengal with a capacity of 2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) at a cost of Rs 500 crore. Agarwal said the plant would be ready by December. He said the clinker plant at Chhattisgarh was operational with a capacity of 5 MTPA, and involving an investment of Rs 3,000 crore. Agarwal said another plant would come up in Odisha with a capacity of 1.5 mtpa.
"From cement, the expected annual revenue would be Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 3,000 crore per year," he said. Emami has also laid the foundation stone of its edible oil plant expansion at Haldia in West Bengal. The expansion would take the capacity from 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes per day (tpd) at a cost of Rs 300 crore, and a 7.5 MW captive power plant has also been commissioned. The expansion would provide employment to 200 people.
Shree Cement secures coal linkage in Chhattisgarh
Shree Cement has said that it has won the bid for coal linkages from state-run Coal India subsidiary, South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL), for 80,000 tonnes annually. "The company participated recently in the auction for coal linkages from SECL for the cement sector and won the coal linkage in Chhattisgarh based on the Letter of Intent issued by SECL dated July 15, 2016," it said in a regulatory filing.
The company will get the supply of the dry fuel mainly from New Kusmunda mine in Chhattisgarh for Rs 970 per tonne and it has been allocated a supply of 80,000 tonnes per annum, it added. In May, the company said it will set up a clinker plant with 2.8 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) capacity at its integrated cement plant in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. The investment required for the capacity addition at the 2.6 MTPA cement plant is about Rs 700 crore, which excludes the cost of land and other infrastructure.
It will finance the amount through internal accruals and the exercise will be completed by March 2018. Last month, the firm said it has completed the expansion of a grinding unit at Aurangabad (Bihar) from 2 MTPA to 3.6 MTPA.
Mumbai Metro awards contracts worth Rs 18,115 crore
With the Maharashtra Government and the Centre finally giving their go-ahead to the Colaba-Bandra SEEPZ Metro-3 project, the board of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) has awarded civil contracts for the entire section of 33.5 km for implementation in seven packages with a total cost of construction at Rs 18,114.9 crore.
MMRCL is a joint venture of the state and Union governments. Major Indian construction companies in joint ventures with international companies had participated in the bidding and five consortiums have been awarded seven contract packages.
The 33.5-km long underground corridor with 27 stations will be implemented by MMRCL by raising a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, a press statement issued by MMRCL said.
In a mammoth project such as construction of a Metro line, the civil and electrical work is subdivided into smaller packages and then the bids are called for the packages.
Engineering major L&T, in a consortium with STEC of China, has won two packages. A statement by L&T said that the packages with a project value of Rs 5,273 crore would be executed by the Heavy Civil Infrastructure Business of L&T Construction. The scope of the work includes design and construction of underground stations and associated tunnels for package 1 and package 7 of the Metro project.
"This is a significant win in the heavy civil infrastructure space and we hope that this is a sign for many such projects involving vital infrastructure that are in the offing," said SN Subrahmanyan, Deputy Managing Director, and President, L&T.
Infrastructure major Hindustan Construction Company Ltd (HCC) along with MMS company of Russia, has been awarded package 2, which has a value of Rs 2,523 crore. The scope of work is for the construction of a 4,072-metre corridor of the underground Metro line including four underground stations at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Kalbadevi, Girgaon and Grant Road and twin-bored tunnels of total length of 3,115 m. The project is to be completed in 55 months, according to a statement issued by HCC.
Metro Line-3 would be a crucial North-South corridor connecting the major central business districts of Nariman Point and Bandra-Kurla Complex with domestic and international airports and industrial areas of MIDC and SEEPZ. It will also connect various areas in the island city and suburbs that are not served by existing suburban railways.
The daily ridership on the corridor is estimated at 14 lakh in 2021 and is expected to rise to 17 lakh in 2031. Commercial operations are planned to start by 2020-21.
Yes Bank negotiating Rs.4,000-crore credit line for Nirma-Lafarge deal
Yes Bank is taking a bold bet on Nirma while negotiating to bankroll a lion?s share of funding required to complete the Rs 9,400-crore ($1.4-billion) acquisition of Lafarge?s Indian assets.
Nirma is likely to fund the buyout largely through borrowed funds.
Yes Bank has given the largest commitment among a consortium of banks to Ahmedabad-based Nirma, days after it outsmarted several of its bigger rivals to take over the 11 million tonnes per annum prized portfolio, said multiple sources aware of the developments, according to news reports.
Yes Bank has offered a Rs 4,000-4,500 crore credit line to Nirma through a combination of loans and bonds for a 10-year period at an aggressive 9.5-10 per cent rate.
These facilities, known as "holdco-level financing" is on the back of Nirma?s cash flows and balance sheet strength. Of this Rs 3,000 crore is likely to be in the form on loans while the rest will be bonds that are likely to get subscribed by the bank. Some of these requirements may be funded by French multinational bank BNP Paribas, which along with Lazard had advised Nirma in the deal. BNP is believed to have offered Rs 1,000- 1,200 crore corporate level financing on the basis of Nirma?s financials.
"A combination of loans and bonds caters to all type of investors. For example, some may seek tradable instruments while others may look for fixed longer term instruments. Bonds and loans will offer both," said an official quoted in the news report.
Another consortium of Barclays, Credit Suisse and IDFC have each agreed to offer Rs 1,500-crore bridge loan funding to meet the immediate financing needs of Nirma. These lines are for a minimum of two years and a maximum of five years and are expected to be taken out by rupee bonds that will be sold and underwritten by the three funding banks.
Prabhudas Lilladher sees improved cement demand outlook
Prabhudas Lilladher, an analyst firm, says in its latest report on the cement sector that demand continued to remain weak across regions except the East. It says that this region continues to be an exception with strong growth across the states on higher spending by state governments. Despite weak base, the report says, demand growth tapered down in the South in May 16 as cement producers collectively revitalised discipline to check the steep fall in prices. Demand in the West continued to remain anaemic due to weak housing demand, exacerbated by severe drought in Maharashtra. The firm?s channel checks suggest revival in government spending in the Central region ahead of state elections in UP. Demand remained soft in North though strong production discipline drove strength in prices.
The current weakness in demand has been primarily attributed to temporary factors like water shortage, severe heat wave and slackness in rural demand. Forecast of better monsoon, benefits from structural reforms undertaken by the government and elevated government spending would provide strong impetus for spurt in demand in H2FY17 onwards, concludes the report.