Jaiprakash Power gets RBI nod for rescheduling bonds worth $200 mn 

Earlier this year, the company had informed its bondholders that it will not be able to meet repayment obligations for the bonds maturing on 13 February.

March 31 2015; Debt-laden Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd has delayed repayment of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) worth of $200 million by a year, following approvals from bondholders and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). 

Earlier this year, the company had informed its bondholders that it will not be able to meet repayment obligations for the bonds maturing on 13 February. On 12 February, the company entered into a so-called interim standstill and voting agreement with some of its bondholders up to 27 February to get more time to formalize a rescheduled payment agreement. 

This agreement was later extended and would be effective till 30 April. 

Following these agreements, Jaiprakash Power convened a meeting of bondholders on 30 March in Singapore to consider the rescheduling of the company’s redemption obligaitons in respect of bonds including the extension of maturity (rescheduling) date. 

“The terms of the rescheduling were put to a vote at the meeting (in Singapore) and approved by bondholders holding 93.48% of the outstanding principal amount of the bonds,” Jaiprakash Power said in a statement. 

The central bank approved the rescheduling on Tuesday, Jaiprakash Power said. 

Further to the approval of bondholders, Jaiprakash said a so-called supplemental trust deed was executed on 31 March 2015 to give effect to the rescheduling, “including extending the maturity date of the bonds to 13 February, 2016 and putting in place an instalment-based redemption during the extended tenor, including that the company will pay $25 million on 31 March, 2015 and will pay a further $75 million upon receipt of the proceeds of the sale of its Baspa-ll power project and Karcham power project. 

In November, JSW Energy Ltd agreed to buy Jaiprakash Power Ventures’ two hydropower assets, Baspa-II Hydro-electric project and Karcham Wangtoo Hydroelectric project for Rs.9,700 crore. Debt for the Jaypee group is seen at around Rs.60,000 crore, of which Jaiprakash Power Ventures alone had debt of Rs.17,887.72 crore at the end of the September quarter. 

In the last two years, the group has been selling assets to reduce debt. In a recent deal, Aditya Birla Group’s Ultratech Cement Ltd agreed to buy Jaiprakash Associates’s two cement plants in Madhya Pradesh for Rs.5,400 crore. 

India’s banking system was weighed down by Rs.2.69 trillion of bad loans as of 30 September as two years of sub-5% economic growth, coupled with delays in securing statutory approvals and completing land acquisition stalled many big-ticket projects, hurting companies’ ability to generate cash flows and repay loans on time. 

Many corporate borrowers sought to restructure their debt, which typically means longer repayment cycles and lower interest rates and creditors sacrificing a part of the principal amount. 

As of 30 September, RBI’s corporate debt restructuring cell had approved restructuring of Rs.3.67 trillion of corporate debt since it was formed in the early 2000s. 

Of this amount, Rs.2.62 trillion of debt was still being actively recast; the rest was owed by borrowers who had either completed their CDR exercises successfully or had failed to do so.

Courtesy: Live Mint