Hindalco to use units to lift up funds

The newspaper reported on Thursday, quoting a senior company official, ?Cash-strapped Hindalco Industries Ltd, India's largest aluminium maker, will fund future projects by pledging assets of its units.? Hindalco's executive president and chief financial officer, S Talukdar, told the paper in an interview, "Individual companies will borrow money without recourse to Hindalco. We will securitise cash flows and assets with the lender to raise money." 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. Hindalco had acquired Canadian aluminium product maker Novelis in 2007 for $5.9 billion and has also announced investment of 198 billion rupees ($4 billion) more than three years to expand capacity in India. ($1=49.9 rupees)..NS