New Delhi – The country’s state-owned company Power Finance Corporation Limited (PFC) has refused to give loan to Shapoorji Pallonji Group, which has deepened the crisis on the debt refinancing plan of this big company. A senior PFC official told in an analyst call that the board has decided not to approve this loan. He said that PFC investigated the matter thoroughly and found that this is a new sector for the company, in which funding will not be easy. The board took the final decision to reject the loan of about Rs 20,000 crore (2.4 billion dollars). Shapoorji Pallonji Group, which is controlled by Indian billionaire Shapoor Mistry, had sought this loan from PFC to refinance old debt.
In the absence of a loan from PFC, the group will now have to look for a new option to meet its funding needs. Meanwhile, Shapoorji Pallonji Group’s engineering and construction arm, Afcons Infrastructure Limited, recently raised capital through the sale of shares. During this share sale, founder Goswami Infratech Private Limited sold shares worth Rs 41.8 billion, which helped meet the company’s financial needs. This situation is challenging for Shapoorji Pallonji Group, because getting a loan from PFC could have helped it refinance its existing financial obligations. Now the company will have to look for other sources to raise debt.
