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Non-Tech : ICICI Ltd - (Nyse: IC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (210)	2/22/2000 7:50:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 494

ICICI to find buyer for 50% Spic arm stake (Wednesday, February 23, 2000) Baiju Kalesh in Mumbai (BusinessStandard) Southern petrochemicals firm Spic has mandated financial intermediary ICICI Ltd to find a buyer for 50 per cent equity in its wholly owned subsidiary Spic Petrochemicals Ltd (SPL). The divestment is aimed at infusing fresh equity into the venture, facing financial difficulties. Spic managing director V R Arvind confirmed that the company had asked ICICI to find an equity partner for the project. "We are keen on completing the project as we expect a huge domestic demand for the products," he said. "We are open to negotiations and no pre-conditions have been put on the buyer regarding the equity dilution," Arvind said. The quantum of equity dilution will be decided after reviewing different combinations and situations. However, he said the partner should have some operational synergy with the project, either in the supply of raw material or interest in downstream products. Spic has invested Rs 800 crore in the project, with financial institutions lending over Rs 500 crore. The FIs had earlier asked the promoters to bring in the necessary equity into for additional financial assistance. FI officials said Spic had been asked to offload 50 per cent of their stake to a strategic partner to complete the project. The project is to have three units - 250,000 tonnes per annum capacity of PTA unit, 80,000 tonnes per annum of PFY and offsite utilities, including power, water and other infrastructure facilities for running the plant. According to Arvind, 75 per cent of the PFY unit and 85 per cent of the offsite utilities have been completed. However, only 20 per cent of the PTA unit has been completed. He said some multinational companies have shown interest in participating in the venture, but a final decision would be taken after the government cleared the issue with Madras Refineries Ltd (MRL). MRL has moved court against Spic's move to set up the petrochemicals unit after forming a joint venture with it. Arvind said the company expected a huge demand in future for its polyester products in view of the conversion of cotton handloom units into polyester-using units in the cotton belt of Erode and Karur. He said the project will commence work for completion after the government clears its issue with MRL. Spic decided to set up its own petrochemical unit after the government delayed its venture with MRL had christened Arochem. In protest against this, MRL took the matter to court and received an injunction against any continuation of work at the site. However recently both Spic and MRL reached an out-of-the court settlement on the issue and is awaiting the government clearance.