Communications Service Providers (CSPs), has received RBI approval to extend
the maturity period of all the outstanding FCCBs to 9th July, 2012.
The company said this extension
was sought by the company to have adequate time to complete the re-structuring
activity that it is undertaking with the existing bondholders.
We are working on a complete re-structuring of the FCCBs
with the existing bondholders and that has been contemplated as a two-step
process. As we need 3 to 4 months to complete the plan, we decided to go for a
two-step process. The first step is extension of the maturity period to give us
adequate time to complete the second step. That first step is now moving
towards a logical closure by the 6th of March”, said Subash Menon, founder
chairman, MD and CEO.
Subex has outstanding FCCBs worth USD 94 million and the
total outstanding redemption will be around USD 131 million, including the
premium of the bonds.
The company expects bondholders too will approve FCCBs
maturity extension at a meeting on March 6.
With the approval, the extension process will be
complete paving the way for the second stage. The second step is expected to
result in some of the bonds getting converted to equity thereby reducing the
overall debt and improving the debt-equity ratio.
In 2007, Subex had issued FCCBs worth $180 million to
fund an acquisition. The bonds, at that time, were convertible at Rs 656 a
share in March 2012.
Recently,
Subex reported net consolidated revenue of Rs 1328.69
million ($26.05 million) for the third quarter of FY12, up from Rs
1267.72 million ($24.86 million) in FY11 Q3.
The company’s net profit grew at Rs 285.38 million
($5.60 million) up from Rs 240.41 million ($4.71 million) in FY11 Q3.
editor@telecomlead.com
