India's Jindal Steel and Power to sell Oman unit for more than $1 billion to cut debt

India’s Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) said on Tuesday it is selling its Oman subsidiary to Templar Investments Limited in a deal valued at over $1 billion, to ease the group’s debt burden.

The sale still needs to be approved by JSPL’s shareholders and lenders as well as India’s markets regulator, but JSPL said in a statement that it hopes it will be completed within a month.

Selling Jindal Shadeed Iron and Steel Co LLC (JSIS Oman) is expected to reduce JSPL’s overall debt burden by 60 billion-70 billion rupees ($794 million-$927 million), Vidya Rattan Sharma, managing director at Jindal Steel & Power Ltd, told Reuters by phone.

“The domestic debt exposure is around 340 billion rupees,” Sharma said.