Kingfisher's $100-mn GDR likely by July

Private carrier Kingfisher Airlines expects to come out with its $100-million Global Depository Receipts issue by July, a senior official said on Monday.

"I expect our (GDR) issue by early second-quarter. We have not fixed the date...," Ravi Nedungudi, chief financial officer of UB Group, which owns the airline, told PTI in Mumbai.

The Vijay Mallya-owned airline also plans to raise another $100 million via rights issue.

The proceeds from the GDR and the rights issue would be primarily used for reducing the company's debt, which, as at March 31 this year, stood at Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion), he said.

The company was fine-tuning the details of the rights issue, Nedungudi said. "We have not yet finalised the size nor its pricing."

The proposed fund raising would be in addition to $400 million which the company has been mulling to raise through private equity route for quite sometime now.

Kingfisher has narrowed down its net loss by Rs 493 crore (Rs 4,93 billion) last fiscal to Rs 1,647 crore (Rs 16.47 billion).

The UB Group official described the present time as "good for fund-raising" as the market was improving. "Airlines do need equity. The market is improving and we want to take advantage based on our audited results."

Kingfisher has appointed Citi, JP Morgan and CLSA as its merchant bankers, he added.