Chennai, Feb 19: Madras Fertilizers Ltd (MFL) has submitted a restructuring proposal which, if approved, would help the company wipe out the Rs 47-crore loss it recorded for the nine-month ended December 31, 1998, according to the company chairman and managing director NY Mahajan.He told reporters after the company's EGM here on Thursday that the restructuring package comprises interest and principal waiver to the tune of Rs 89 crore, conversion of forex loans of $36 million to rupee term loan at 16 per cent interest and rescheduling of rupee loans worth Rs 70 crore at lower interest of 16 per cent (currently 18.3 per cent).
Apart from this the Government is expected to convert loans given by it into five per cent redeemable preference shares and also infuse fresh funds by way of preference shares. The shareholders in the EGM approved issue of preference shares to the Government of India to the extent of Rs 190 crore.
The savings in interest as per the package would come to about Rs 29 crore which,coupled with profit of Rs 17 crore expected to be made in the last three months of the current fiscal, should wipe out the loss to leave a marginal profit, he said.
Mahajan said the company had recently received plan loan of Rs 21 crore and this, with the fresh loan of Rs 40 crore expected shortly, would help the company bridge the funding gap for its Rs 601-crore expansion-cum-revamping plan.
Meanwhile, National Iranian Oil Corporation (NIOC), which holds 26 per cent stake in the public sector unit, MFL has given an in-principle approval to the government for going ahead with the disinvestment in MFL. According to Mahajan, NIOC is said to have some concerns over its rights in view of the disinvestment and negotiations are on to sort it out.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.