Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers looks at locations to set up new plant

 Government-owned Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF) is looking at alternate options apart from Iran to set up a new overseas plant.

“We are looking at alternate locations apart from Iran for a new plant. RCF along with National Fertilisers (NFL) had sent a team to Brunei to carry out feasibility study to set up a plant in Brunei as gas is cheap there. If everything goes well, we may set up a new plant of around 1.3 million tonnes with an investment of around $900 million in Brunei,” RCF chairman and managing director Manoj Mishra told DH.

“As far as Iran is concerned, SBI Caps has identified Falat as our partner there. The total due diligence of our partner will be done by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and we hope to have a final announcement in this regard in the next six months,” Mishra added.

RCF, which is planning to spend around Rs 20,000 crore for its expansion plans, is hopeful of a stake sale by the government in the company in the next couple of months.

“As far as divestment is concerned, we are planning roadshows in October. The government is planning to divest 5% stake through the offer for sale route, and is expected to raise Rs 150-200 crore through the stake sale,” Mishra said.

The Union Government currently owns 80% in RCF and as per market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) norms, all listed companies have to mandatorily have a public shareholding of 25%. As far as expansion plans of the company are concerned, RCF will be investing Rs 5,500 crore for expansion of Thal unit. The company will also be investing for a coal-based fertiliser plant at Talcher besides looking at investing on improvement in energy efficiency.

As far as the rest of the funding for the capex plans are concerned, we are looking at raising debt of around Rs 4,000 crore over the next four years, Mishra added.