SREI Infra is looking to invest Rs 5,000 crore over the next one year to finance construction projects. The company is looking at different options to increase retail funding to reduce cost of funds.
Speaking to CNBC-TV18, CMD Hemant Kanoria said the company is looking at Viom Networks (its telecom tower venture with the Tata group) stake sale but nothing has been finalised yet.
He further said Viom stake sale is in advanced stages of negotiations and there is substantial interest seen in it.
Below is the transcript of Hemant Kanoria's interview with Anuj Singhal and Ekta Batra on CNBC-TV18.
Ekta: The buzz on the street is that maybe there could be some amount of a deal on Viom which is now possibly closing in, can you just give us a sense in terms of any sort of fund raising options which you might be now solidifying and if you could throw some light on it?
A: The Viom transaction has been discussed many times. We have already given indication that we will be looking at either diluting or divesting. That is in process but nothing has been finalised as yet. So as soon as something gets finalised, we will definitely inform the market about it at the right time.
Anuj: What is the current valuation of Viom Networks so that we can do the math in terms of your stake in Viom?
A: That is very difficult to say because we are still having discussions going on. So it will be premature to give a value but I think that it would be market value and there has been substantial interest by the market in various other stocks also. You should have seen that Bharti Airtel has also substantially gone up, so therefore it shows that the market is quite interested in telecom tower companies. So I think that we should get good value but it is very difficult to put a figure.
Ekta: Help us understand whether your stake you would think would be more lucrative to possibly divest via an initial public offering (IPO) or a stake sale, which one do you think would be more likely?
A: It is again very difficult to say because we have to see how do we maximise the return for the investors and especially SREI is also one of the investors. Therefore, we will have to see what is best. As I mentioned, it is premature to be in a position to give an indicative figure or a timeline that how soon it will happen but it is in progress and now it is at an advanced stage on various options that we have been exploring.
Ekta: The option that you are exploring could be a stake sale as well as an IPO?
A: Yes, it could be anything. As I mentioned that Bharti Airtel has got a good response from the investors and the market has also reacted quite well and things are stabilised on the telecom tower front. The market can clearly see that. We will see whatever is good for the investor.
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