Aban Offshore, one of the largest drilling contractors in the private sector, has restructured its debt-repayment schedule by opting for a longer tenure. Instead of the 10-year tenure, as scheduled earlier, the Chennai-based company has restructured the tenure to 15 years. Aban had $2.4-billion term-debt on its books on March 31, 2014, which included foreign currency term-loans raised from a slew of banks as well as bonds.

In its annual report 2013-14, the company said it had opted to refinance the debt for a longer tenure of 15 years, aligning it with the long-term nature of the company’s assets. The long-tenured refinancing is also expected to reduce considerable stress on the company’s repayment capability and projected cash flows.

Even as the external currency environment remained volatile, the company converted all its loans into dollar-denominated ones, progressively emerging as a currency-neutral company with revenues also dollar-denominated, the annual report said. According to an investor presentation in May this year, the company’s new repayment schedule starts from FY15 and ends by FY28.

The company deploys rigs across seven countries, and offers a diverse rig portfolio comprising 15 jack-ups two drill ships and one floating production unit to customers like ONGC, Shell Brunei,Shell Malaysia, GSPC, Hindustan Oil Exploration, Cairn Energy, Petronas Carigali, ROC Oil and Exxon Mobil Malaysia, among others.

With a view to servicing the debt and deploying capital for further growth, the company’s forthcoming annual general body meeting on September 19 will take up resolutions to raise money through different instruments. The board has already given its nod to raise Rs 2500 crore from institutional investors and another $ 400 million from foreign bond markets. In July 2014, the company had issued equity shares to investors under QIP for a total of Rs 750 crore.

Bouncing back to black, Aban had reported Rs 67-crore net profit for the June quarter against a Rs 16-crore loss in the same quarter last fiscal. The company had posted a total income of Rs 209 crore.