Tata Timken

Tata Timken TATA TIMKEN, which plans to set up a plant at Bara, Jamshedpur, for the manufacture of 20 lakh tapered roller bearings and 40,000 sets of AP cartridge tapered roller bearings in technical and financial collaboration with Timken, USA, will enter the capital market on September 2 with a public issue of 2 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 each at par and 12.35 lakh (12.5 per cent) secured redeemable partly convertible debentures of Rs 50 each. The total issue consists of Rs 3,600 lakh in equity capital and Rs 1,950 lakh in partly convertible debentures. Shares worth Rs 1,700 lakh each will be subscribed by Timken and Tata Iron and Steel. Shares worth Rs 180 lakh and debentures worth Rs 97.50 lakh will be allotted to employees of the company on a preferential basis. Of the face value of the debentures of Rs 150, the convertible part will be Rs 50 which will be automatically converted on date of allotment into five equity shares of Rs 10 each at par. The cost of the project is estimated at Rs 8,376 lakh including Rs 2,598 lakh in foreign currency. This will be financed by equity capital of Rs 4,250 lakh, foreign currency loans from financial institutions of Rs 1,673 lakh, rupee loans from financial institutions of Rs 500 lakh, from commercial banks of Rs 653 lakh and the non-convertible portion of debentures amounting to Rs 1,300 lakh. The company pro- poses to implement the project in phases over three years and expects to commence commercial production in the first phase by early 1992, while the com- mencement of production for the fourth phase is expected by the first quarter of 1994. The automobile industry is a major consumer of tapered roller bearings with original equipment manufactures accounting for around 40 per cent of total production. According to a study by the Development Panel on roller bearings, the demand for tapered roller bearings is estimated at 16 million numbers per annum by 1994-95. Cartridge tapered roller bearings find application in railway wagons, coaches and locomotives. The estimated market for cartridge tapered roller bearings is around 1,35,000 per annum. The company does not anticipate any problems in marketing its output.