BackNavi Mumbai SEZ achieves financial closure
Navi Mumbai SEZ achieves financial closure
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Mumbai: The Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone, or NMSEZ, promoted by Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani and infrastructure developer Jai Corp. Ltd, has achieved financial closure, according to a presentation by Jai Corp. chairman Anand Jain. He was speaking to investors at a conference last month sponsored by Mumbai-based Enam Securities Ltd. Financial closure is a term used when a firm completes fund-raising for a project.
Mumbai-based Jai Corp. makes yarn, packaging bags for cement and foodgrains, and galvanized corrugated steel sheets.
The NMSEZ project—spread over 2,140 hectares (5,288 acres) in Navi Mumbai, about 35km from Mumbai city—is estimated to need an investment of about Rs6,300 crore. The City Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (Cidco) owns a 26% stake, while Ambani and Jain hold 53% and 10%, respectively. The rest is held by the original promoter Nikhil Gandhi.
Ambani and Jain—who are old friends—are also planning a larger Mumbai Special Economic Zone (MSEZ) which has been facing resistance over land acquisition. Ambani will invest in his personal capacity in both the SEZs and own 90% in MSEZ while Jain, who is chairman of both SEZs, will own 10%. The MSEZ is estimated to need about Rs14,500 crore.
Both SEZs will have access to a captive power plant and a port, a water treatment plant and other facilities. All the projects, including the two SEZs, are estimated to need an investment of Rs35,000 crore. Jain’s presentation, which has been reviewed by Mint, describes the “SEZ projects financially closed".
The project is partly funded by Infrastructure Development Finance Co. Ltd, said a senior official at the company. He declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak about clients. Mint could not independently confirm the loan amount.
Dilip Chaware, president (corporate communications) of Navi Mumbai SEZ Pvt. Ltd. said in an email response that the company “cannot share any information at this point of time". He also declined to confirm the equity held by various entities as the two SEZs are privately held.
Jain told investors that development work had started on the NMSEZ, with 5km of boundary wall and warehouses complete and sewage treatment plant and water pipelines nearing completion. The NMSEZ is expected to be ready in 2015-16, brokerage firm JM Financial Consultants Pvt. Ltd had said in a report on the firm released on 29 August.
The presentation also said that an additional $9 billion (or Rs45,450 crore) will be pumped in “over the next 10 years for vertical development". While horizontal development refers to the processes such as filling of land, road-building and power generation, vertical development includes business centres, residential colonies, academic institutions and hotels.
“Development costs in such projects are staggered over different phases. Therefore, not all the money required will be raised in one go," said a Mumbai-based analyst who declined to be named as he is not authorized to speak to the media. Shares of Jai Corp., which posted revenues of Rs120.66 crore in the July-September quarter this year and a profit of Rs18.76 crore, closed at Rs83.05 on Tuesday, down 1.13% on a day the Bombay Stock Exchange’s benchmark Sensex index fell 1.14%% to close at 8,739 points.
baiju.k@livemint.com
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