7 years on,Dunlop looks at re-listing of shares

After almost seven years,tyre major Dunlop India Ltd is planning to re-list its shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange....

After almost seven years,tyre major Dunlop India Ltd is planning to re-list its shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange. A blue-chip company once upon a time,the company fell into bad times in the 1990s and its trading was suspended on the bourses.

Our share trading was suspended in 2002 and we are happy that it will resume in a couple of weeks time. In the next 10-15 days of time,a volume of 45 million shares held by the company in 2002 will be allowed to trade in the bourse, said Ruia Group chairman Pawan K Ruia who acquired the company from Dubai-based Jumbo group in 2005.

Ruia Group holds 86 per cent stake in Falcon Tyres and 74 per cent holding in Dunlop India,which has two tyre-making plants at Sahaganj,near Kolkata and at Ambattur in Chennai. Both the Dunlop units which were shut till recently are currently making 40 tonnes of off-the-road (OTR) tyres per day, Ruia said.

The company also plans for expansion and fund realisation in the next financial year. The company has decided to raise Rs 100 crore for Falcon and dilute 10 per cent stake in Dunlop,said a top company official. The manufacturer of truck,bus,farm and off-the-road tyres expects a turnover of Rs 700-800 crore in FY11,Ruia said.

We plan to expand our network with a total investment of Rs 300 crore in the next financial year. As far as volume is concerned,we will increase the Falcon capacity by 0.5 million units a year. For this purpose,we have decided to raise Rs 100 crore through the QIP route, Ruia said.

Public sector lender Central Bank of India has approved Rs 100 crore debt to fund the expansion project,while the group is in talks with other lenders for raising a similar amount, Ruia said.

We plan to put up a 50 MW thermal power plant at Shahganj with an estimated investment of Rs 250 crore. The power plant is at the drawing board stage. We have not decided the debt-equity ratio, Ruia said. With the demand from the auto industry on a high,the company is hoping to run the plant at full capacity soon. Without divulging any time frame details Ruia said,We will take a call on that after fulfilling our prime target of producing 40 tonnes per day to stabilise the plant.