India's Hindalco raising $966 mln debt - paper

MUMBAI, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Indian aluminium maker Hindalco Industries is raising 45 billion rupees ($966 million) in debt to fund a new alumina refinery, the Business Standard reported on Thursday, citing unnamed bankers with knowledge of the deal. The 1.5-million-tonne per year refinery, in the eastern state of Orissa, is expected to start production in July 2011 and involves about 65 billion rupees as capital expenditure, 30 percent of which is equity and the rest debt, the newspaper said. Company officials were not immediately available for comment. SBI Capital Markets, IDBI Bank and ABN AMRO are syndicating the term loan, expected to close in about three to four weeks, the paper said. It also said a complex of smelters and thermal power plants in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, also slated for production in 2011, will be the company's next project for achieving financial closure. Hindalco, part of the Aditya Birla Group, had raised $600 million through a sale of shares last month. ($1 = 46.6 Indian rupees)