UPL restructuring spooks investors, Street assumes 40% holding company discount
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. UPL Ltd has announced a massive restructuring exercise aimed at simplifying its complex holding structure. In reaction, the Street dragged down its shares by a whopping 15% on Monday.
What explains the tumble? First, let’s evaluate UPL’s existing structure and the proposed one. Currently, UPL holds its Indian and global crop protection businesses in separate entities. Other businesses include 70% subsidiary Advanta for seeds, and wholly owned subsidiary Superform Chemistries for specialty chemicals.
UPL now proposes to list an integrated crop chemicals company by merging Indian and global crop chemicals into UPL Global. It will issue one share of UPL Global for one share held in UPL. The global seeds business, Advanta, is anyway in the process of getting listed separately, having filed papers for its initial public offering (IPO).
Superform could get a private equity investor and then be listed later. Some brokerages have expressed concerns over UPL’s high debt, but that’s not something the proposed restructuring aims to address anyway. The management may address the debt issue separately through the sale proceeds from the offer for sale of its stake in Advanta, wherein it plans to sell about 8% stake.
UPL’s net debt remains high at ₹23,317 crore as of December-end with net-debt-to-Ebitda at 2.5x. Post the restructuring, UPL Global is likely to have nearly 80% of the net debt and holding company UPL will have the rest. Advanta is a net debt-free company.
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