KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 24): Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) said today the Malaysian government-controlled utility via its wholly-owned subsidiary TNB Topaz Energy Sdn Bhd (TNBTE) has divested its entire tranche one investment comprising 105.6 million units in a compulsory convertible debenture (CCD) issued by India-based GMR Bajoli Holi Hydropower Private Ltd (GBHH) for INR1.18 billion (about RM67.04 million) to streamline TNB’s international portfolio.

In a statement to Bursa Malaysia today, TNB said the company is "defocusing on India", and shifting its effort to pursue growth in TNB’s focused markets such as the UK, Europe and Southeast Asia. 

"Furthermore, the divestment is also consistent with TNB’s initiatives to seek monetisation options for its assets in India and other non-focus markets,” TNB said.

In investment terminology, a CCD is an unsecured bond which must be converted into shares of a company by the deadline indicated in the agreement between the CCD issuer and investor.

TNB, which did not specify in the Bursa filing today when the divestment took place, said the CCD issuer GBHH is a subsidiary of GMR Energy Ltd (GEL).

According to TNB, the company has divested its tranche one investment in the CCD to GEL’s parent company GMR Infrastructure Ltd.

"On April 5, 2019, TNBTE subscribed into tranche 1 of the CCD investment for INR1.06 billion (US$15.28 million or RM62.36 million). The [hydropower] project was expected to commence commercial operations by October 2019.

"However, its commissioning was delayed due to unforeseen circumstances. Following the delay in project completion, TNBTE did not proceed with tranche 2 of the CCD investment subscription of INR1.2 billion originally scheduled by September 2019,” TNB said.

At Bursa’s 12:30pm break today, TNB’s share price settled up 11 sen or 1.11% at RM9.98 for a market value of about RM57.19 billion.  

TNB has 5.73 billion issued shares.