GMR to sell assets, refinance loans to cut debt

GMR Group today said it is planning to refinance loans and divest assets in road and power sectors to cut debt even as it is looking at investing up to Rs 7,400 crore to expand Delhi and Hyderabad airports.

"We are focusing on divestment and monetisation of land in Kakinada and Krishnagiri. That should give us somewhere between Rs 1,000-Rs 1,200 crore. This is number one," Madhu Terdal Group CFO told reporters here.

"We have just divested our Indonesian coal mines that will give us another Rs 400 crore of cash. Now we are going to monetise our roads that should give us somewhere between Rs 500 to Rs 600 crore," he added.

The company's gross debt has reduced to Rs 19,856 crore from Rs 37,480 crore, he said. "These (plans) are in the realm of possibility in the current year... We can go for an IPO in GMR Energy. So all these options are availble... They are all going to reduce the level of debt," he said.

The company's net debt to EBIDTA, or operating profit, in 2016-17 came down 4.3 from 10.2 in 2015-16.

GMR, Terdal said, is also focusing on refinancing its debt and monetising land in various businesses.

Stating that the company is planning expansion for around Rs 4,500-Rs 5,000 crore at Delhi Airport, Terdal asserted that GMR was sitting on a cash of more than Rs 2,700 crore in Delhi Airport.

"Hyderabad is undertaking an expansion of around Rs 2,400 crore. We are sitting on more than Rs 1,000 crore of cash in Hyderabad Airort," he added.

He said Rs 8,236 crore is the company's net revenue, of which the contribution of Rs 2,989 crore is from Delhi Airport, Rs 1,057 crore from Hyderadabad Airport and Rs 264 crore is from Cebu Airport, the Philippines.