merger

The Board of Directors of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited (IPCL) have unanimously approved the scheme of merger of IPCL with RIL, subject to the necessary regulatory & shareholder approvals. RIL is India’s largest private sector company with a leadership position in the petrochemicals industry while IPCL is India’s second largest company in that sector. As part of the divestment program of the Government of India, RIL acquired 26% equity in IPCL in the year 2002 and thereafter increased its holding to 46% through an open offer. Over the last five years of IPCL’s operations, with the support of Reliance management several initiatives were introduced to increase capacity utilization, reduce operating costs and improve financial management. This has resulted in ongoing improvement in financial and operating performance at IPCL with revenue increasing from Rs 5,527 crore in FY 2001-02 to Rs 12,362 crore in FY 2005-06, a CAGR of 22% and net profit increasing from Rs 107 crore in FY 2001-02 to Rs 1,164 crore in FY 2005-06, a CAGR of 82%. The improvement in financials has led to a significant improvement in IPCL’s capital structure, with IPCL becoming debt free on net basis as compared to a net debt of Rs 3,482 crore in March 2002.