News: Infra companies exit fringe businesses to focus on core strengths

C-Suite

Infra companies exit fringe businesses to focus on core strengths

India's infrastructure companies are selling non-core businesses and focusing on the main activity in a bid to exploit the almost limitless opportunities thrown up by the country’s rapid growth and economic expansion. Companies, such as IVRCL, Punj Lloyd and GMR, have in the recent past sold peripheral businesses, such as real estate and sugar, and used the cash to invest in infrastructure.

India's infrastructure companies are selling non-core businesses and focusing on the main activity in a bid to exploit the almost limitless opportunities thrown up by the country’s rapid growth and economic expansion. Companies, such as IVRCL, Punj Lloyd and GMR, have in the recent past sold peripheral businesses, such as real estate and sugar, and used the cash to invest in infrastructure.

Infrastructure, which involves building roads, airports, bridges, highways, power plants represents a huge and growing opportunity for many of these companies. The government is keen on stepping up spending in the sector and plans to award contracts worth several thousands of crores to private companies for setting up airports, laying roads and highways etc.

A recent report by KPMG and FICCI said that the government plans to increase its infrastructure spending as a percentage of the GDP to 9% in 2014 from 6.5%. The prime minister also announced recently that the total investment in the infrastructure sector is expected to be $1 trillion in the 12th Five Year Plan compared with $514.04 billion in the 11th Five Year Plan.

Typically, such acts of restructuring gather pace when companies are faced with financial challenges. Conventional thinking indictates that if a company is not highly leveraged and the fundamentals of their core businesses are strong, they can raise debt from the market to meet the near-to-medium-term challenges. They can also dilute the equity to extend lifeline to their challenging business models. But many infrastructure companies have large amounts of debt so the only way they can raise money is to either dilute more equity, always difficult in tight market conditions, or sell noncore businesses.
 

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Topics: C-Suite, #Updates

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