India's Hindalco to use units to raise funds

MUMBAI, Feb 19 - Cash-strapped Hindalco Industries Ltd , India's largest aluminium maker, will fund future projects by pledging assets of its units, the Mint newspaper said on Thursday, quoting a senior company official. "Individual companies will borrow money without recourse to Hindalco. We will securitise cash flows and assets with the lender to raise money," Hindalco's executive president and chief financial officer, S. Talukdar, told the paper in an interview. Earlier this week, the company said its board had approved a proposal to use $1.8 billion in its share premium reserve to write off costs relating to its foreign acquisition and domestic expansion. [ID:nBOM87730] Hindalco had acquired Canadian aluminium product maker Novelis in 2007 for $5.9 billion and has also announced investment of 198 billion rupees over three years to expand capacity in India. Source: Reuters