Shriram Transport Finance Limited Non Convertible Debuntures (STFC NCDs) 2012

Shriram Transport Finance Limited has entered the debt capital market with a public issue of Secured Non Convertible Debentures (NCD) of face value of Rs 1,000 each aggregatingupto Rs 300 crores with an option to retain over-subscription upto Rs 300 crores for issuance of additonal NCDs aggregating to a total of upto Rs 600 crore.

The issue is open for subcription from 26.7.2012 and closes on 10.8.2012 with an option to close on such earlier date or extended date as may be decided at the discretion of the duly authorised committee of directors of the company subject to necessary approvals.

The NCDs under this issue have been rated 'CRISIL AA/Stable' by CRISIL for an amount of upto Rs 600 crore and 'CARE AA+' by CARE for an amount of upto Rs 600 crore. The NCDs offered are proposed to be listed on the NSE and the BSE.

The funds raised through this issue, after meeting the expenditure of and related to the issue, will be used for STFC's various financing activities including lending and investments, for repaying existing loans and for business operations including capital expenditure and working capital requirements.

The coupon rate will be 10.25 per cent for a three-year option and 10.50 per cent for a five-year option. Retail investors will be offered 90 paise more, working out to 11.15 per cent and 11.40 per cent, respectively, under the two options.

80% of the issue isreserved for individual investors- 40% for the investors applying up to Rs.5 lakhs and 40% for investors applying above Rs.5 lakhs.

Caution: Beware of scam on international calls at local call rates

The Central Crime Branch sleuths, with the help of the officials of Bharat Sanchar NigamLimited(BSNL), busted a telephone exchange racket functioning  for several months. The expose came after the arrest of the kingpin of the racket in Chandigarh last week.

Those involved in the racket used to convert international calls into local calls with the help of a foreign company, Speedflow.  The accused, working in a local exchange, used to avail of over 800 Vodafone SIM cards with unlimited plans. These cards were routed through Speedflow's website, which converted international calls into local calls.

Since the calls bypassed BSNL routers, it resulted in losses running into crores of rupees to the company.  The racketeers sold the SIM cards to people and company officials who made international calls at local call rates.

The arrested were Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Praveen, Rama Rao, and GN Saptadri. Police seized modems and other electronic gadgets worth Rs25 lakh from them.

Mohinder Pal Saini, who operated a long-distant illegal telephone call exchange from Chandigarh to facilitate calls generating from his Bangalore exchange was arrested. Saini, a Canadian national, revealed that the exchange was run with the help of two Hong Kong-based people identified as Shafeeq and Ajaib Singh Dhillon, who provided them the technical support. The hardware was supplied by Mahesh Gridhar, a resident of Chennai. Anand Mishra, a resident of Nepal, too gave them technical assistance.

The money involved in the scam runs into several crores and the police are trying to trace the flow of money to various bank accounts.