RPL TOCD holders get 4th option

MUMBAI, MARCH 14: The board of Reliance Petroleum Ltd on Saturday cleared a fourth option for the Triple Option Convertible Debenture (TOCD) holders. Investors, who do not have the two underlying warrants by virtue of having sold them earlier, can surrender these TOCDs and obtain one equity share at par in November, 1999 and one equity share at a premium of Rs 5 in November 2000 or November 2001.

The company has fixed April 25, 1998 as the record date for exercise of outstanding warrants which would cease to be tradeable from April 10 this year. These warrants had been issued in May 1997 against TOCDs entitling the holders of these warrants to subscribe to equity shares of RPL of the face value of Rs 10 at a premium of Rs 10 per share. However, a TOCD holder could surrender the TOCD along with the warrants and obtain the two shares of RPL without making any further payment.

About 10 per cent of the holders had already sold or surrendered their warrants. This means that they would need to keep holding onto their TOCDs.

To facilitate surrender of these TOCDs in return of equity shares, the Reliance Petroleum board decided to offer a fourth option to TOCD holders to receive equity shares by surrendering the TOCDs. The three options provided to investors are: sell the warrants and keep the TOCDs and earn interest on these or surrender the warrants and get two shares by paying Rs 40 or surrender the warrants and the TOCDs and get two shares without paying any amount. The option will be exercisable during the period coinciding with that to be fixed for subscription of shares against the exercise of warrants. The record date for exercising the option would also be April 25.