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Ramachandran joins Tamilnadu Petro

M. Ramesh

CHENNAI, Aug. 9

MR C Ramachandran, former Principal Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu, Industries Department, recently joined the board of directors of Tamilnadu Petroproducts Ltd.

``He was inducted taking into consideration his earlier association with TPL as Chairman and his valuable contribution to the growth of the company,'' says the latest annual report of TPL, which was released today.

Mr Ramachandran was Industries Secretary when Ms Jayalalitha was the Chief Minister during 1991-96.

On May 26, he was inducted as an Additional Director of the company. A resolution is being placed before the shareholders at TPL's forthcoming AGM, to be held on August 30, to appoint Mr Ramachandran as a director of the company.

Shareholders' approval is also being sought for investing up to $50 million in a wholly-owned subsidiary company, to be established in Mauritius.

This subsidiary would be TPL's ``investment arm for overseas projects''. The investment in the subsidiary would be through borrowed funds, says the explanatory statement to the resolution.

The annual report also says that the company had borrowed Rs 100 crore from ICICI to finance its acquisition of the heavy chemicals division of Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation. (The acquisition cost TPL Rs 106.82 crore.)

TPL seeks shareholders' approval for mortgaging the immovable properties of its linear alkyl benzene (LAB) complex to ICICI, against the loan.

The annual report says that the company has so far advanced Rs 28.03 crore to two companies promoted by it - SPIC Electric Power Corporation Pvt Ltd and Vopak Sical Terminal Ltd (formerly Van Ommeren Mac Tank Terminals).

The loans to the subsidiaries are to be adjusted against equity shares to be allotted by them to TPL.