Interest burden may increase if companies reschedule foreign debt: S&P

22 Jun 2012 Evaluate

Global rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&Ps) in its report named 'Pile-up of Indian foreign currency convertible bond maturities will test issuers and investors' has cautioned 56 Indian companies, which have to pay back $5 billion worth of foreign debt this year and if the companies choose to reschedule these obligations, may see their interest burden increasing up by $700 million, mainly on the back of decline seen in stock valuations since the time of debt issuance and the fall in rupee.   

As per the report, most of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) that mature in 2012 were issued in 2007-08, when the stock prices were at record high and the rupee was trading at 42 per dollar. Since then, the rupee has declined almost 30% against dollar with most of the FCCBs denominated in the US dollar; it is expected to increase the already mounting worries of the companies.

The rating agency further warned that more than half of the firms would have to streamline the bonds to avoid default. Moreover, with limited access to funds and high borrowing costs, redeeming the bonds will also be a challenging task for many FCCB issuers, under the tepid global economy.

Based on the expected strategy to deal with the maturities, the report has classified these companies into 4 categories: likely to redeem at manageable cost; likely to redeem at high cost; likely to restructure the FCCBs; and could default on payment.

The report also stated that about 28 companies are likely to go for restructuring of their FCCBs in 2012, since they cannot afford to raise additional funds due to the higher cost of funds, mainly due to a RBI limit that demands companies to pay only a maximum of Libor plus 5% for foreign loans. The maximum interest rate allowed on external commercial borrowing route by the RBI is Libor plus 5 percent, which on the other hand, is available only to companies with strong credit profiles.

Further, according to S&Ps report, only 5 out of 56 companies are expected to pay back their FCCBs and others will roll over the bonds with higher coupons or lower the conversion-to-equity price, which would require RBI’s approval or get bondholders to accept only a partial repayment of their principal.

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