The inorganic chemicals maker had in January said it would pay $1 billion to buy General Chemical Industrial Products to give it access to low-cost natural soda ash reserves and to gain a presence in the North American market.
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Tata Chemicals Ltd <TTCH.BO> has tied up $850 million of debt to fund its recent acquisition of a soda-ash maker in the United States, its managing director said on Tuesday.
The inorganic chemicals maker had in January said it would pay $1 billion to buy General Chemical Industrial Products to give it access to low-cost natural soda ash reserves and to gain a presence in the North American market.
"The finances have been tied up," Homi Khusrokhan told reporters on the sidelines of an industry conference, but declined to elaborate on the issue.
The funding plan would be announced in "another couple of days" after regulatory approval for the deal comes through, he added.
!ADVERTISEMENT!Khusrokhan said there would be no fresh equity input for the deal, but declined to comment whether it meant Tata Chemicals would not liquidate its held-investments that were valued at 11.91 billion rupees in end-March 2007.
The firm had raised around 3 billion rupees ($75 million) in February from the sale of some of its stake in group firm Tata Investment Corp Ltd <TINV.BO> to founders Tata Sons.
Tata Chemicals shares ended up 6.6 percent at 277 rupees in a firm Mumbai market.
($1=40.15 rupees)
(Reporting by C. Jacob Kuncheria; Editing by Sunil Nair)
