Indian polyester manufacturer, JBF Industries Ltd has reportedly made plans to sell its petrochemical business division to private equity firm KKR and Company. As per sources, the company has reached at such a point where it needs to sell its 100 percent stake to escape from the insolvency proceedings initiated against it. Consequently, it will transfer complete ownership of its petrochemical unit to KKR and Co. for an undisclosed amount.

Trusted sources claim that The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reportedly directed JBF Industries to the banks for recovery, on account of the company’s inability to pay debts. Reportedly, the central bank had fixed 27 August as the deadline for JBF Industries for resolving its accounts outside the NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal), failing which the investors would file an insolvency proceeding against the firm in the court.

In response to the legal proceeding, JBF’s board of directors have reportedly approved a scheme of arrangement, which allegedly involves debt restructuring for their secured and unsecured investors. The firm claims that the proposed repayment for the outstanding amount is in line with RBI’s guidelines.

Reportedly, the agreement specifies that JBF Petrochemical’s USD 464 million debt will not impact the accounts of its JBF Industries but would eventually eliminate all existing liabilities of the Purified Telephthalic Acid (PTA) project loan including interest.

For the uninitiated, JBF’s petrochemicals business also runs a PTA project in the Mangalore facility.

Sources familiar with the matter claim that the settlement deed of the petrochemicals business will return an additional INR 450 crores to JBF, accredited to the inter corporate deposit offered by JBF Industries.

The funds acquired from the deal will reportedly be utilized for the repayment of debt to banks and the balance will be used as working capital. Further, the infusion of working capital fund will eventually boost the company’s production capacity, ultimately enhancing profitability in various products manufactured by JBF Industries, the company stated.