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Business News/ Industry / Nalco to buy back 25% stake from government
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Nalco to buy back 25% stake from government

Nalco is a rare aluminium company managing to make money despite a sharp drop in the metal's prices and rising imports from China

Nalco chairman Tapan Kumar Chand said the buyback would not affect its growth plans.Premium
Nalco chairman Tapan Kumar Chand said the buyback would not affect its growth plans.

New Delhi: India’s state-controlled National Aluminium Co Ltd (Nalco) has agreed to buy back 25% of its shares from the government, mines secretary Balvinder Kumar told Reuters after a meeting with the company on Monday to discuss pricing.

The buyback, initiated by the finance ministry earlier this year, is part of the government’s efforts to raise much-needed funds, including by selling shares worth up to 565 billion ($8.5 billion) to curb the 2016/17 fiscal deficit.

Kumar, who met Nalco officials in New Delhi alongside bankers from State Bank of India, said the company’s board would meet this month to decide the price at which it will buy back the shares.

Nalco stock closed at 46.35 on Monday, valuing the company at around billion ($1.8 billion). The government owns 80.93% of Nalco, according to Thomson Reuters data.

If bought back at market prices, the stake would cost $450 million. It is not clear at this stage whether the stock would be held in treasury or cancelled.

The company earlier tried to push back against the finance ministry request as it needed money for expansion—including a planned project to set up a smelter complex worth about $2 billion in Iran—and to diversify into sectors such as nuclear energy.

But Nalco chairman Tapan Kumar Chand told Reuters in a text message on Monday the buyback would not affect its growth plans. He did not elaborate.

Export-oriented Nalco is a rare Indian aluminium company managing to make money despite a sharp drop in the metal’s prices and rising imports from China that have hurt private competitors such as Vedanta Ltd and Hindalco .

One factor is its easy access to raw materials such as bauxite, an aluminium ore. As a result, until early this year Nalco enjoyed total liquid reserves of about 120 billion, around half of that in cash. Reuters

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Published: 02 May 2016, 08:19 PM IST
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