Member Info for SchiffJnr

February 12, 2014: Essar Energy plc [LSE: ESSR], today announced that Mahan Coal Limited has secured Stage 2 forest clearance from the Government of India's Ministry of Environment and Forests for its Mahan coal block in Madhya Pradesh. Mahan Coal Limited is held 50% by Essar Power Limited (98.27% subsidiary of Essar Energy plc) and the Mahan coal block was originally allotted in 2006. This clearance is subject to the fulfilment of some further conditions. Mahan Coal Limited will now be required to sign a Mining Lease Agreement with the state of Madhya Pradesh before commencing mining operations.

Lets hope they have a plan! The cynic in me expects more head in the sand behaviour from the brothers.

That said, having had yestarday to digest it, the market is re-acting well. So far. Fingers crossed!

Agreed. The lack of progress on dollarisation of debt is particularly annoying.

Greenko, is pleased to announce it has agreed to acquire the Budhil 70 MW run-of-river hydropower plant in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh, near Greenko's existing assets. This will bring Greenko's total operating hydropower portfolio to 245 MW and its total generating portfolio to 546 MW - a 77% increase in total capacity since the start of the current financial year. Greenko is acquiring Budhil from Lanco Hydro. The total value of the acquired assets is approximately €77 million, funded in-line with the Company's current portfolio from project finance debt and internal resources. The plant is fully built and is completing its stabilisation phase, with power sold through an open market PPA. On average the project is expected to have a plant load factor (PLF) of 57% and deliver an average of approximately €14 million of EBITDA over the long term, based on current exchange rates. Once final pro-forma approvals are received from the State and the banks, Greenko expects to recognise revenue from Budhil at the start of its 2014-15 financial year.

Greenko, the Indian developer, owner and operator of clean energy projects, is pleased to announce that Phase-2 (50.0 MW) of its Balavenkatpuram wind farm has been commissioned. This takes Greenko's total generating portfolio to 476 MW, a 54% increase since April 2013. The grid connection for the site's full capacity of 200 MW was completed in October 2013, ahead of Phase-1's commissioning. Balavenkatpuram Phase-3 (50.0 MW) is already under construction and on track for commissioning ahead of the main generating season, which begins with the monsoon in July.

Whilst the optimist in me agrees with some of what you're saying, I don't think its accurate to say they have transferred the debt into dollars. The key reason for doing this is that base rates in the US are much cheaper than in India, and therefore a switch will improve interest cover. Whereas its true, they have been able to diollarise some debt, the amount done so far as been very small versus the total debt quantum. They need to do much more! When I spoke to Mark Lidiard before Christmas when the sp was tanking, I said they are doing alot of work with the Indian banks to try dollarise the debt. Hopefully we'll get some good news on this soon, but its by no means guaranteed.

Parkside, I agree Indian Electons should have a significant impact. I studied the indian press about a week ago, and it looks promising that the BJP will get a clear majority. This will give them a clear mandate to implement much over due economic reforms. I believe the electons are due to take place in late spring.

Bloomberg confirms the figure of 1,303.4m of shares in circulation. The dilution would have some effect on the sp. Ofcourse the fire in Stanlow, the lack of progress on dollarisation of debt, and a prediction of 1.1x interest cover (see coments from Parkside on this board) have contributed to the dramatic fall, albeit management have come out in the last few days saying numbers are broadly on plan. I hope they are confodent in saying this. We'll see.

Yes, I spoke to Mark Lidiard who tld me £804m. I don't think he specified if it was USD or GBP.

That's concerning. Thanks.

I have just spoken to Mr Lidiard myself. I managed to get a bit more than the corporate speak that is quoted below. None the less, the key points aren't particularly soothing: 1) They don't recognise next years forecast 1.1x interest cover which has been muted by sources unknown to me. Broker consensus is £1.49bn EBITDA v £804m interest costs. Albeit I acknowledge that brokers haven't exactly been on the money with this one. 2) Talks with Indian banks about dollarising debt with existing Indian Lenders was going well but tas slowed in the past couple of months - clearly the lenders are happy getting 12% on rupee debt and are reluctant to change. Let's hope they can keep chipping away at them. 3) Ongoing talks with Chinese Development Banks on funding sales to Petro-China. 3) Asset disposals. Not much they can sell. I raised Stanlow as a possibility - they think not much demand for euro refinery facilities at present. 4) They aim to have dollarised £2bn by next March. Fingers crossed on that one. Best of luck all,

Thanks. Where is the projections who spoke of early. I can't seem to find them on their investor realtions page of their website.

Just wondering, if some form of Debt for Equity happens, wouldn't the brothers have to take a hit to their equity as well?

The investor relations for these clowns are located at Berkerley Sq. Is anyone up for going down their with me and asking some questions? Are value is being eaten away whilst they do very little to keep the market in formed of what's going on.

Down again today which is pity. I haven't had time to look at the debt for equity swap announced today. I do notice that volumes are low. Lots of small sales driving it down today.

Parkside - Thanks. I was considering doing so as well but was seriously questioning my own sanity. Good to know I'm not the only one. The price does look tempting.

Parkside, I for one appreciate your input, and share your frustrations with the Bozo brothers. I agree (hopefully), this isn't going bust. At what price would you see this a buy, alebit a dodgy clapped out one? Cheers.

I dread to think how much value is being destroyed the longer this debacle continues. The impact on the sales pipeline must be very significant - there will be a major reluctance to commit to using SID for large scale and long term contracts whilst liquidity is questionable. HSBC are relatively new bankers, and clearly didn’t know what they were getting in to. They were in so deep they had no choice but to help the refinance. Management credibility is zero and going backwards, the longer this ticks on. I really don’t see that they’d have the credibility to pull of another diluting equity raise. I’m surprised the minority shareholders aren’t more active given the way they’re being treated.