JSPL pre-pays $105.66 million debt of its Australian subsidiary

Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) on Wednesday said it has made a pre-payment of $105.66 million (about Rs 777.4 crore) debt of its step-down subsidiary, Jindal Steel & Power (Australia) Pty Ltd, as part of the company's efforts to completely pay off its overseas debt.
 
The prepayment has helped reduce the Australian debt by about 50 per cent. In a release, JSPL said its net debt to EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) on a consolidated basis stood at 0.96x at the end of June quarter, while it was at 0.7x on a standalone basis, which is expected to go down further at the end of ongoing quarter.
 
JSPL, a part of O P Jindal Group, is a leading infrastructure conglomerate with presence in steel, power, and mining sectors.
 
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The company said it has been working with an "undeviating" focus on net debt reduction, reducing it by more than Rs 31,306 crore from a peak of about Rs 46,533 crore in 3QFY17 to Rs 15,227 crore at the end of Q1FY22.
 
JSPL said it is also focusing on maintaining minimum levels of liquidity on its balance sheet at all times.
 
"We are paying back to lenders before time in order to strengthen our balance sheet. The company is aligned with the India growth story and we want to become a net debt free company by FY23 through accelerated deleveraging," JSPL MD VR Sharma said.
 
The company will expand its steelmaking capacity in Odisha's Angul to more than 12 MTPA by 2025 through internal accruals, he added.
 
Shares of JSPL ended 0.98 per cent lower at Rs 395.75 on the BSE on Wednesday.

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