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History of Essar Shipping Ports and Logistics Ltd.

YEAR EVENTS 1975 - The Comp. was Incorporated on 5th April, at Bangalore in Karnataka State. The Comp. Operate fleet of crude oil and product oil tankers, off-shore supply vessels, diving support vessel & bulk carriers.

- The Comp. is a part of Essar Group of Companies founded by the late Nand Kishore Ruia. The Group was engaged in several activities of which the shipping activities were carried on by Essar Bulk Carriers Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Essar Investments limited [EILs]. Karnataka Shipping Corporation limited was incorporated on 5th April, 1975. It was promoted in the joint sector by Karnataka Government.

- Pursuant to a Scheme of Amalgamation approved by High Courts at Bangalore & Chennai, Essar Bulk Carriers Ltd., was merged with Karnataka Shipping Corporation with effect from 1st April, 1983. The name of KSCL was subsequently changed to Essar Shipping Ltd.

1984 - 161,39,630 No. of equity shares issued during 1983 without payment in cash to members of Essar Bulk Carriers limited on its merger with the Comp. in prop. 5 equity shares of Essar Shipping for every equity share of Essar Shipping for every equity share of Essar Bulk Carriers limited Pref. shares redeemable during 16.12.1990/93.

1985 - The Comp. was considering diversification into petrochemicals, iron & steel, off-shore & on-shore construction, development of petroleum refineries, etc.

- The Comp. proposed to enter into the fields of manufacture of sponge iron, off-shore drilling for oil exploration & natural gas resources, dredging operations for deepening ports, harbours, etc. The Comp. proposed to participate to the extent of Rs 15 crores in the equity capital of Essar Gujarat Ltd., which was setting up a sponge iron project.

- Necessary approvals were received for investment of Rs 9.40 crores in the Equity of Essar Gujarat Ltd., for setting-up of hot briquetted sponge iron plant in Hazira, Gujarat.

- In August, the Comp. issued 50,00,000 No. of equity shares of Rs 10 each linked to 3,00,000 - 13.5% secured redeemable non-convertible debentures of Rs 100 each, both at par. Of the issue, 2,50,000 No. of equity shares & 15,000 debentures were reserved for preferential allotment to employees of Company & 1,00,000 shares & 6,000 debentures for business associates. The remaining 46,50,000 shares & 2,79,000 debentures were offered to the public. Both preferential & public offer were fully taken up.

- These 13.5% debentures would be redeemed at a premium of Rs 5 per debenture on the expiry of 10 years from the date of allotment with an option to the Comp. to redeem the same at any time after seven years in one or more instalments.

1987 - With the addition of 8 ships, the Comp. owned & operated 7 product/crude oil carriers, 5 off-shore supply vessels, 3 multi-support vessels, 5 bulk carriers & 1 drill ship.

- Approval in principle was received from the Government of India for acquisition of 12 vessels, 6 bulk carriers, 1 multi-support vessel, 1 chemical tanker, 1 product carrier, 1 drill ship & 2 LPG Ammonia carriers.

- During February, the Comp. issued 17,50,000 - 13.5% secured partly convertible debentures of Rs 225 each for Rs 39.38 crores out of which the following debentures were reserved for preferential allotment:

- [is] 5,00,000 debentures to the existing shareholders of the Comp. other than Essar Investments limited [all were taken ups],

- [iis] 2,50,000 debentures to non-resident Indians on repatriation basis [only 2,25,240 debentures taken ups] - [iiis] 87,500 debentures to employees [including Indian working directorss]/workers of Comp. & associate companies [only 16,290 debentures taken ups],

- [ivs] 35,000 debentures to business associates of Comp. [all were taken ups],

- [vs] 2,22,000 debentures to UTI [all were taken ups] and

- [vis] 22,220 debentures to General Insurance Corporation of India [all were taken ups].

- The balance 6,33,280 debentures, along with the unsubscribed portion of 95,970 debentures out of preferential quota, were offered for public subscription during February 1987. Additional 4,37,500 debentures for Rs 9.84 crores were allotted to retain oversubscription [8,750 debentures to the business associates of the Company, 1,25,000 debentures to the shareholders of the Comp. & 3,03,750 debentures to the publics].

- These debentures comprised a non-convertible part of Rs 75 & a convertible portion of Rs 150. Rs 75 of convertible portion of Rs 150 was to be converted into five fully paid equity shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 5 per share on the expiry of six months from the date of allotment & the remaining Rs 75 was to be converted into five fully paid equity shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 5 per share on expiry of twelve months from the date of allotment of debentures.

- The non-convertible portion of Rs 75 per debenture would be redeemed at par at the end of 7th year from the date of allotment of debentures.

- 102,01,550 No. of equity shares issued [prem. Rs 5 per shares] on 15.10.1987 in conversion of debentures.

1989 - It was proposed to acquire modern vessels such as Afframax tankers, LPG carriers, Product Tankers & Bulk carriers.

- The Comp. made an issue of 40,00,000 - 14% secured redeemable non-convertible debentures of Rs 100 each on rights basis to the members & debentureholders of Company.

- 1,12,68,950 No. of equity shares issued [prem. Rs 5 per shares] in terms of conversion of debentures.

- 2,51,100 No. of Equity shares issued [Pref. Rs 5 per shares] on conversion of debentures, 8,50,000-14% cumulative redeemable pref. shares issued to financial institutions privately.

1990 - Six mini bulk carriers & a product tanker were added to its fleet. The Comp. proposed to undertake the third phase envisaging acquisition of bulk carriers, tankers & offshore supply vessels.

- The Comp. issued 15,00,000-14% secured redeemable non-convertible debentures of Rs 100 each to financial institutions on private placement basis.

1991 - Two Suezmax tankers of 1,40,000 DWT each & three mini bulk carriers were added to its fleet as a part of third phase of its expansion programme.

- During July, the Comp. made an open offer to the equity shareholders of South India Shipping Corporation, limited [SISCOs] for acquisition of an aggregate minimum of 1,20,000 No. of equity shares of Rs 100 each of SISCO, representing 20% of present voting capital of SISCO in the proportion of 50 equity shares of Rs 10 each fully paid-up of Comp. & Rs 65 in cash for every one equity share of Rs 100 each held in SISCO.

- 16,800 No. of equity shares issued [prem. Rs 5 per shares] on conversion of debs. 39,40,550 equity shares allotted to shareholders of SISCO pursuant to open offer made by Company.

1993 - In addition to the few suezmax tankers, the Comp. also added 4 tugs, 44 barges & 1 mini bulk carrier for meeting the increasing cargo transportation requirement of Essar Gujarat Ltd. for its steel plant at Hazira.

- The Comp. issued 2,51,86,190-16% partly convertible debentures of Rs 70 each at par with a detachable warrant attached on rights basis in the proportion of one debenture: 2 equity shares held. Another 1,30,000-16% partly convertible debentures of Rs 70 each were offered to the employees.

- Part A of Rs 20 of each debentures will be compulsorily converted into one equity share of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 10 per share on the expiry of six months from the date of allotment of debentures.

- Each detachable warrant attached to Part B of Rs 50 of each debenture will entitle the holder to one equity share of Rs 10 at a premium of Rs 40 & will be called up at anytime between 1st June 1993 & 30th June, 1994, as may be decided by Board Part B of Rs 50 of each debenture if not converted into equity, will be redeemed at par in three instalments of Rs 20, Rs 15 and 15 on the expiry of 6th, 7th & 8th year respectively from the date of allotment of debentures.

- The Comp. obtained the approval from Government of India for the insurance of Equity to foreign investors in the form of GDRs for USD 172.50 million including retention of Greenshoe option of 15%.

- 9,000 shares issued on conversion of debs. 2,51,98,729 shares issued on conversion of 16% PCD converted on 18th Dec. 1993. 11,49,350 shares allotted on 23rd Nov. 1994 to SCICI limited in terms of loan agreement, 200,00,000 shares at a prem. of Rs 70 per share to NRIs on private placement basis.

1994 - The Comp. proposed to acquire modern large sized vessels as and when market condition showed favourable trends for acquisitions.

- The Comp. entered into a joint venture agreement with Poompuhar Shipping Corporation Ltd., Chennai to form a joint venture Comp. under the name & style of 'Essar Chennai Shipping Co. Ltd.' at Tamilnadu to cater to the coal transportation requirements of Tamilnadu Electricity Board to meet the increasing demand of its thermal power station.

- As per the agreement, Essar Group would be holding 51% of the share capital of 'Essar Chennai Shipping Co. Ltd.' - The State Bank of India has the right to acquire, through conversion, fully paid-up equity shares of Comp. equivalent to 100% or any part of outstanding loan amounts, at par, the option being exercisable on one or more occasions at any time during the currency of loans under the SAFAUN scheme availed of by Company.

- 23,03,900 shares of Rs 5 per share were allotted on conversion interest with conversion option on NCD-13.5% convertible debentures in 1987.

- On 26th December, the Comp. allotted 248,28,377 No. of equity shares of Rs 10 each on rights basis at a premium of Rs 15 per share in the ratio of 1:4.

1995 - The Approval in principle was received from the Government of India for acquisition of three shallow draft bulk carriers of 43-45, one DWT each by way of new building. Also, permission was sought from Tamil Nadu Electricity Board for a long term contract of affreightment for bulk carriers.

- 12,200 No. of equity shares allotted as on conversion from remaining portion of warrants.

1996 - The Comp. operated its fleet of bulkers, tankers & OSVs for 13,102 days as compared to 10,210 days in the previous year. Dry bulk carrier freight rates witnessed considerable fall.

- The Comp. proposes to set up a petro port project at Vadinar, Jamnagar, Gujarat.

- 481,44,480 No. of equity shares issued to erstwhile South India Shipping Corpn. limited pursuant to the scheme of amalgamation.

1997 - The Comp. operated its fleet of bulkers, tankers, & OSVs, with 98% efficiency for 3931 days as against 4004 available operating days.

- The two shipping companies in the Essar group - Essar Shipping & South India Shipping Corporation [Siscos] - are being merged into one entity.

- Essar Shipping limited proposes to diversify into port development & related areas.

- Essar Shipping has tied up a Rs.763.20 crore [$212 millions] syndicated foreign currency loan through the Bank of Nova Scotia, in order to retire the company existing foreign currency & rupee term borrowings.

- Essar Shipping has a diversified fleet of 22 ships, while SISCO has a fleet strength of 11 ships. The company fleet comprises six modern double hull bottom Suezmax oil tankers, an ore bulk carrier, & oil carriers, four product carriers, four offshore vessels, seven bulk carriers, & 11 mini-bulk carriers.

1998 - The Comp. proposes to set up a petro-port terminal project at Vadinar, Jamnagar, Gujarat for receipt, handling, storage & dispatch of crude oil & petroleum products.

- The second largest shipping Comp. in India, Essar Shipping Ltd, mortgaged its vessels to raise a $ 191 million term loan facility to refinance the company existing banking facilities.

- Essar Shipping Ltd, signed a $191 mn loan deal with the Bank of Nova Scotia Asia Ltd., the largest-ever for Indian shipping industry. The loan facility will help refinance Essar Shipping existing banking facilities.

- Essar Shipping has a low debt equity ratio of 0.63:1 & the current ratio at 4.70:1. Essar Shipping has eight bulk carriers, 11 mini bulk carriers, 6 crude carriers & four product tankers & three offshore supply vessels.

- ESSAR Shipping Limited is setting up a port & terminal project adjacent to the petroleum refinery being set by Essar Oil Limited at Vadinar in Gujarat. - The Rs 800-crore Essar Shipping is expanding its fleet by acquiring very large crude carriers [VLCCss]. It may opt to acquire vessels through the bare-boat-cum-demise [BBCDs] route so as to minimise financial burden on the company. - ESL was also the first Indian shipping Comp. to get the International Safety Management [ISMs] Code certification through Lloyds Register of Shipping, for its entire fleet of bulk carriers & tankers as early as 1995. The Comp. has also got ISO 9002 certification.

1999 - The Credit Rating Information Services India Ltd [Crisils] on Thursday downgraded the Rs 126-crore non-convertable debenture [NCDs] of Essar Shipping, a fortnight before the date of repayment of principal amount of issue. The NCD has been downgraded from `BBB+' to `C'.

- Essar Shipping has a Rs 1,435-crore port facility under construction at Vadinar for its refinery at Jamnagar. This includes a state-of-the-art Single Buoy Mooring [SBMs] terminal, a POL handling terminal, pipelines, & road & rail links. The port has a capacity to handle 20 million tonnes of crude & 14 million tonnes of petro products.

- ESL has one of largest & youngest fleet of Suezmax tankers in the world with an average age of eight years, part of which was provided as security for loan.

- ESL is the second-largest Indian private sector shipping company with a fleet of 1.39 million DWT. As the owners of six double-hull modern Suezmax tankers, Essar is one of largest owners & operators of crude tankers in the world.

2000 - The Comp. has decided to hive off the Vadinar Port terminal into a separate subsidiary.

- Essar Shipping has roped in the $2.3-billion Malaysia Internationa Shipping Corp to float a 50:50 joint venture Comp. for liquefied natural gas transportation. - Essar Shipping limited & MISC through the joint venture Comp. will focus of providing sea transportation for import of LNG into India.

- Crisil has downgraded its rating assigned to company NCDs from C to D.

- Essar Shipping has appointed Sanjay Mehta as Managing Director & Rajiv Agarwal as chief financial officer.

- The Compay has acquired a Capesize bulk carrier of 1,37,000 DWT & eleven Mini Bulk Carriers. The Mini Bulk Carriers were with the Comp. on Bare Boat Cum Demise basis.

2002

-Board agrees to issue 20crs equity shares to promoters on preferential basis & increase its stake from 48% to 74%.

-Converts loans from Essar Investments into equity capital & has increased the holdings of Ruia in Essar Shipping.

-Transfers 4.22% stake in Essar Oil & 4.5% stake in Essar Steel to its subsidiary, Essar Sisco Ship management.

-Losses Rs.330 crs on Acc. of its investments in two of its group companies, Essar Steel & Essar Oil.

-Debt Recovery Tribunal issues notice for default of Rs.17.89 cr on the application field by IndusInd Bank.

-Prepays Rs.1360 million ICICI bank loan.

2003

-Corporate Debt Restructuring Cell approves for Debt restructuring of Vedinar Oil Terminal Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of Essar Shipping.

-Members approve for delisting of company equity shares from all stock exchange except Mumbai Stock Exchange.

-In EGM on Sept 19, Board approves the following: Increase the authorised share capital from Rs.5105m to Rs. 15105m Issue any financial instruments to ABB Lummus, members, promoters, strategic investors etc.

-Wins the 'Most Quality Conscious Indian Shipping Company' award from the National Maritime Day Celebrations Committee.

2004

-The Indian Coast Guard Ship [CGSs] Vijaya was awarded the first National Maritime Search & Rescue Award 2003 instituted by Essar Shipping Ltd

2006

-Essar Shipping acquires VLCC for Rs 550 cr

2008

- Essar Shipping Ports and Logistics Ltd has informed that the Board of Directors of Comp. at its meeting held on October 31, 2008, inter alia, has approved the appointment of Mr. S V Venkatesan and Mr. Deepak Kumar Varma, as an Independent Directors of Company.

-Company name has been changed from Essar Shipping Ltd to Essar Shipping Ports and Logistics Ltd.