Essar Group, owned by Indian billionaires Shashi and Ravi Ruia, plans to raise US$3 billion overseas to fund acquisitions and expand its oil, power and steel businesses, two people familiar with the matter said.
The money may be raised through debt or sale of equity in Essar Energy Ltd, a holding company for the group’s energy businesses, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the plan isn’t final. A decision on the fund-raising may be taken in six weeks, the person said.
Indian companies, including Reliance Industries Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd, are bidding for assets overseas to take advantage of cheaper valuations after the worst global financial crisis in 70 years.
Essar is in talks to buy three Royal Dutch Shell PLC oil refineries and is acquiring steel plants and coal and iron ore mines across the world to compete with Reliance, ArcelorMittal and other rivals.
“They’re looking to acquire a stake in Shell’s three refineries, so this could be an attempt to raise more money to do that,” said Swarnendu Bhushan, a Mumbai-based analyst for HDFC Securities Ltd.
Essar Oil Ltd, which has a market value of US$3.8 billion, rose 3.5 percent to 144.85 rupees at 10:52am in Mumbai trading.
The stock has advanced 133 percent in the past year, exceeding the benchmark Sensitive Index’s 106 percent gain.
The Ruia brothers, together the fifth-richest in India according to Forbes magazine in November, are considering listing shares of Essar Energy on the London Stock Exchange, the two persons said. There was no final decision yet, they said.
Essar may raise US$3 billion from the listing, the Financial Times reported yesterday, without saying where it got the information. The group has appointed JPMorgan Chase & Co and Deutsche Bank AG as advisers for the listing, the report said.
Essar was planning an US$8 billion London share sale for its oil and power business, the Sunday Telegraph reported on Sunday, citing an unidentified person.
“Essar Group is always looking at a range of different funding options but has not yet made any specific decision with regards to its future financing,” the Mumbai-based group said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
“The group works with a range of financial advisers to assist the group,” the statement said.
The Essar Group bought Trinity Coal Corp in West Virgina for US$600 million to help lock in raw materials with coal and iron ore prices poised to rise as the global economy recovers, chief executive officer Prashant Ruia said on Saturday.
The group may sell stakes in its oil and shipping units as part of its expansion plan, Ruia said in October.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique