Rating Rationale
January 29, 2019 | Mumbai
Linde India Limited
Ratings Reaffirmed
 
Rating Action
Total Bank Loan Facilities Rated Rs.316.18 Crore
Long Term Rating CRISIL AA/Stable (Reaffirmed)
Short Term Rating CRISIL A1+ (Reaffirmed)
 
Rs.25 Crore Commercial Paper# CRISIL A1+ (Reaffirmed)
1 crore = 10 million
Refer to annexure for Details of Instruments & Bank Facilities
#Not raised by the company
Detailed Rationale

CRISIL has reaffirmed its ratings on the bank facilities and commercial paper programme of Linde India Limited (Linde India) at 'CRISIL AA/Stable/CRISIL A1+'.

The ratings continue to reflect its established market position and strong financial and operational support it receives from ultimate parent, Linde AG Germany (rated 'A+/Stable/A-1' by S&P Global Ratings). These strengths are partially offset by Linde India's exposure to risks inherent in the highly competitive, capital-intensive, and cyclical industrial gases industry, and end-user industry (primarily steel and other metallurgical industries) concentration in revenue profile.

On October 31, 2018 Linde AG has announced completion of its merger with Praxair Inc. Linde and U.S. peer Praxair Inc (rated A/Watch Pos/A-1 by S&P Global Ratings) have entered into a definitive agreement to come together under a new holding company, Linde PLC in an all-stock transaction with Linde AG shareholders receiving 1.54 shares and Praxair shareholders receiving 1 share each of Linde AG respectively.

The ratings of the parent, Linde AG, continue to remain stable as the new merged entity's financial risk profile will be consistent with the current assessment of the standalone entity (pre-merger).

Following the global merger, Indian entities, Linde India Ltd and Praxair India Pvt Ltd are also expected to be subsequently merged. The Competition Commission, as part of its approval for the merger, has stipulated divestment of the company's units at Bellary, Hyderabad and Chennai. Arising from these divestments the scale of operations of the Linde India is expected to decline in calendar year 2019.

CRISIL believes business profile of the merged entity will benefit from increase in scale of operations, and dominant market position of onsite business in India. Besides, as it enhances business and geographic diversity, amalgamated entity will have better positioning in merchant gas segment. CRISIL will monitor the progress of the proposed merger and reassess credit profile post adequate clarity on the impact of the amalgamation and business and financial profile of combined entity.

Analytical Approach

CRISIL has combined the business and financial risk profile of Linde India and its only joint venture, Bellary Oxygen Company Pvt. Ltd due to its operational and financial linkages. The entities are collectively referred to as Linde India. The ratings have been notched up for support received from Linde AG.

Key Rating Drivers & Detailed Description
Strengths
* Established market position in the industrial gas segment: Linde India is one of the largest players in the domestic industrial gas industry, with experience of more than 75 years, diverse product portfolio, and presence in industrial, medical, compressed, and special gases. These are backed by brand equity and ability to provide end-to-end solutions to customers in the tonnage segment.

* Strong financial, operational, and management support from parent: Linde India's standalone financial profile remains moderate due to high debt contracted for capital expenditure (capex) in the past coupled with inadequate returns against those capex. As on June 30, 2018, total debt outstanding was Rs. 978 crores (Term loan of Rs. 250 crores). Gearing and interest cover were 0.7 time of 3.17 times respectively for the first six month of calendar year 2018. However, CRISIL takes comfort from the support Linde India receives from parent, Linde AG. Of the total outstanding debt as on December 31, 2018 about 73% is from Linde AG and Linde Engineering India Private Limited ('CRISIL AA/Stable/CRISIL A1+').

CRISIL believes that support from Linde AG will continue, in view of Linde India's strategic importance to Linde AG, and Linde AG's business expansion plans in Asia and other emerging markets.

* Healthy business risk profile: A significant proportion of revenue in the gas segment comes from installation/tonnage, where the company enters into long-term (15-20 years) take or pay contracts with customers, which provide stable cash flow and profitability and prevent significant decline in revenues during downturn. Further, the ongoing merger is expected to benefit the company in the long run while divestments are likely to have a temporary impact on the scale and profitability.

Weakness
* Exposure to the competitive, capital-intensive, and cyclical industrial gas industry: The domestic industrial gas industry is intensely competitive because of commoditised nature of products. The company has to compete with both organized (other international players present in the Indian market) and unorganised players. Furthermore, the onsite sales business is capital-intensive involving large capex, long gestation, and lengthy payback. If implementation of onsite projects were to coincide with downturn in the industry, Linde India would be adversely affected.

* Segment concentration in revenue: Steel and other metallurgical industries account for around two-third of total revenue from the gases segment, which exposes the company to inherent cyclicality and sluggish growth during economic downturns.
Liquidity

Linde India has healthy liquidity, supported by unutilised bank lines and steady cash accruals. Utilisation of its bank lines of Rs 431 crores was low at ~50 % as on December 31, 2018. While the cash accruals of Rs. 200 crores is expected to be lower than that of the current maturity obligations, management expects short term support from Linde Engineering and Linde AG in 2019. In the past, Linde has received support from parent in the form of additional loans and elongation of debt repayment schedules based on cash flow expectations. Moreover, more than 70% of the total repayments in 2019 is estimated to be towards debt from Linde AG and Linde Engineering. Though, CRISIL believes that Linde India's internal accruals will be temporarily impacted following the ongoing merger, its liquidity will continue to be supported by unutilised bank lines and continued financial support from Linde group.

Outlook: Stable

CRISIL believes Linde India will continue to benefit from its association with Linde AG. The business risk profile is expected to benefit over the medium term on the back of steady demand prospects from the steel and metallurgical industries.

Upside Scenario
* Diversification in the end user segments resulting in lower segment concentration in revenue.
* Significant improvement in the operating profitability and consequently cash accruals, liquidity and networth.
* Significant improvement in capital structure and debt protection metrics.

Downside Scenario
* Decline in operating profitability resulting in lower than expected cash accruals
* Large debt-funded capex or acquisitions leading to weakening of financial risk profile.

About the Company

Linde India is a 75% subsidiary of The BOC Group Ltd, UK (wholly owned subsidiary of Linde AG and part of the Linde group), and is one of the largest players in the domestic gases business.

The Linde group is the world's leading supplier of industrial, process, and specialty gases, with operations across 100 countries.

For 2017, the group reported a net profit of EUR 140 Crore on revenue of EUR 1711 Crore, against a net profit of EUR 121 Crore on revenue of EUR 1695 Crore for the previous year.

For nine months ended September 30, 2018, Linde India reported a PAT of Rs. 18 Crore on net sales of Rs. 1629 Crore, against a PAT of Rs. 9 Crore on net sales of Rs.1515 Crore for the corresponding period of the previous year.

Key Financial Indicators*
As on/for the period ended December 31 2017 2016
Revenue Rs crore 2038 1,829
Profit After Tax (PAT) Rs crore 16 19
PAT Margins % 0.8 1.0
Adjusted Debt/Adjusted Networth Times 0.66 0.79
Interest coverage Times 2.88 2.83
*CRISIL adjusted numbers

Any other information: Not applicable

Note on complexity levels of the rated instrument:
CRISIL complexity levels are assigned to various types of financial instruments. The CRISIL complexity levels are available on www.crisil.com/complexity-levels. Users are advised to refer to the CRISIL complexity levels for instruments that they consider for investment. Users may also call the Customer Service Helpdesk with queries on specific instruments.
Annexure - Details of Instrument(s)
ISIN Name of Instrument Date of Allotment Coupon rate (%) Maturity Date Issue size (Rs.Cr) Rating Assigned with Outlook
NA Letter of Credit & Bank Guarantee NA NA NA 78.10 CRISIL A1+
NA Overdraft* NA NA NA 38.08 CRISIL AA/Stable
NA Term Loan NA NA 11-July-19 150.00 CRISIL AA/Stable
NA Term Loan@ NA NA 15-May-20 50.00 CRISIL AA/Stable
NA Commercial Paper# NA NA 7-365 days 25.00 CRISIL A1+
*Interchangeable with fund-based and non-fund-based bank facilities.
@Has been refinanced on/before due date with a fresh loan
#Not raised by the company
Annexure - Rating History for last 3 Years
  Current 2019 (History) 2018  2017  2016  Start of 2016
Instrument Type Outstanding Amount Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Rating
Commercial Paper  ST  25.00  CRISIL A1+      29-01-18  CRISIL A1+  19-01-17  CRISIL A1+  04-01-16  CRISIL A1+  CRISIL A1+ 
Fund-based Bank Facilities  LT/ST  238.08  CRISIL AA/Stable      29-01-18  CRISIL AA/Stable  19-01-17  CRISIL AA/Stable  04-01-16  CRISIL AA/Stable  CRISIL AA/Stable 
Non Fund-based Bank Facilities  LT/ST  78.10  CRISIL A1+      29-01-18  CRISIL A1+  19-01-17  CRISIL A1+  04-01-16  CRISIL A1+  CRISIL A1+ 
All amounts are in Rs.Cr.
Annexure - Details of various bank facilities
Current facilities Previous facilities
Facility Amount (Rs.Crore) Rating Facility Amount (Rs.Crore) Rating
Letter of credit & Bank Guarantee 78.1 CRISIL A1+ Letter of credit & Bank Guarantee 78.1 CRISIL A1+
Overdraft* 38.08 CRISIL AA/Stable Overdraft* 38.08 CRISIL AA/Stable
Term Loan 200 CRISIL AA/Stable Term Loan 200 CRISIL AA/Stable
Total 316.18 -- Total 316.18 --
*Interchangeable with fund-based and non-fund-based bank facilities.
Links to related criteria
CRISILs Approach to Financial Ratios
CRISILs Bank Loan Ratings - process, scale and default recognition
Rating criteria for manufaturing and service sector companies
Rating Criteria for Chemical Industry
CRISILs Criteria for rating short term debt
Criteria for Notching up Stand Alone Ratings of Companies based on Parent Support
Mapping global scale ratings onto CRISIL scale

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