Gas Authority of India (GAIL) has earmarked Rs 4,000-5,000 crore for big-ticket acquisitions as it scouts for suitable natural gas assets in the US and Africa to secure energy supplies, the chairman and managing director said on Thursday.
State-run GAIL, which controls more than half of the gas marketing industry in India, has been looking to expand its portfolio of upstream assets and in 2011 bought a 20% stake in Carrizo Oil?s Eagle Ford acreage in Texas for $95 million.
?An acquisition depends upon all the due diligence processes, which are going on right now,? CMD BC Tripathi said, adding GAIL is eyeing an acquisition similar to Carrizo deal. GAIL is also keen on buying upstream natural gas liquefaction facilities, Tripathi said.
The company does not have any plans for an overseas bond offering, the route through which many Indian companies are increasingly raising money because of favourable interest rates, a top director said.
?Our balance sheet is under-leveraged, we will dip into cash reserves and raise the money locally, with the support of banks,? the director said. The company has a better debt-to-equity ratio than many of its peers at 0.39 on a consolidated basis and had cash and cash equivalents of R1,335 crore at the end of September.