(Bloomberg) -- India’s Shapoorji Pallonji Group is in preliminary talks with Brookfield Asset Management Inc. to raise as much as $400 million in structured debt to help repay maturing obligations, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The Mumbai-based conglomerate, controlled by billionaire Pallonji Mistry and his family, plans to use shares of unit companies as collateral against the borrowings, said one of the people, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private.
The group is resorting to structured loans from the Canadian private-equity fund after its plans to sell assets ranging from solar power plants to toll roads got delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, the person said. It has about $950 million of debt due by 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Negotiations are at an early stage and may not lead to any deals, the people said. Representatives for Brookfield and the privately-held Shapoorji Pallonji Group declined to comment.
Founded in 1865, the Shapoorji Pallonji group built some of Mumbai’s landmarks, including the Reserve Bank of India building. With businesses spanning infrastructure and home appliances, it is still better placed than most of its corporate peers, with total revenue of $7 billion for the year ended March 2019.
The group was earlier in discussions to borrow as much as $1 billion using part of its Tata Sons Ltd. stake as collateral, Bloomberg News reported in March. The Mistry’s family owns an 18% stake in Tata Sons.
(Adds details on Mistry’s holdings in Tata Sons in the last paragraph.)
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