India's third biggest car maker Tata Motors is reportedly in talks with private equity funds to offload up to 25 percent of its stake in each of six unlisted group units to raise money to fund its $2.3 billion acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR).
According to sources close to the development, these units include Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle Co, HV Transmissions, Tata Motors Finance, Tata Technologies and Telco Construction Equipment.
The sale of stakes, which will conclude by June 2009, is a part of the auto major's plan to raise Rs.3000 crore to fund the JLR deal.
Earlier in July, the company sold 24 percent stake in an auto components unit to a group firm and booked a profit of Rs.110 crore. On Thursday, it sold over 10 million shares or 1.36 percent in Tata Steel for Rs.486 crore to Tata Sons, the holding company of all Tata group firms.
“Tata Motors intends to monetise a part of the company's investments through a phased divestment of certain investments preferably as inter-group sales wherever feasible at prevailing market prices over the next six to eight months,” a Tata Motors spokesperson said. “The funds released will form part of the resources to be raised for repaying the bridging loan taken for the Jaguar-Land Rover acquisition.”
In March, the company took a 15-month $3 billion bridge loan from a consortium of banks to finance the JLR acquisition and its expansion plans.
According to market analysts, Tata Motors has made a strategic move as it not only allows the company to raise funds despite the market being hit by a credit crunch but also it allows Tata Sons to increase its stake in gorup companies.
“This would help Tata Motors to raise funds in a low liquidity and high interest rate scenario,” said Hitesh Agrawal, research head of Angel Broking. “This will also enable Tata Sons to increase stake in the group company.”
After the stake sale, Tata Motors' holding in Tata Steel will drop to 3 percent while that of Tata Sons will rise to slightly above 29 percent.
Meanwhile, Tata Motors is set to raise an additional Rs.4200 crore from a rights issue, which opens for subscription on Monday.
Earlier, the company had planned to raise Rs.7200 crore from selling rights shares, but revised the issue size after market conditions turned volatile.
However, analysts said financial institutions have shown positive response during the road shows of the rights issue. “The response from financiers towards this issue is positive as the last quarterly financials of JLR have been robust. Moreover, institutions have been willing to lend due to the goodwill of the Tata brand,” said Ajay Parmar, research head at Emkay Global Financial Services.
Source: IB Times