Tega Industries Limited (TEGA.NS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary
September 12, 2025
Earnings Call Speaker Segments
Operator
OperatorLadies and gentlemen, good day, and welcome to Tega Industries Limited to discuss the proposed acquisition of Molycop conference call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Bhavya Shah. Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Shah.
Bhavya Shah
AnalystsThank you, Danju. Good morning, and welcome to call of Tega Industries Limited to discuss the proposed acquisition of Molycop. Today on the call, we have with us Mr. Mehul Mohanka, Managing Director and Group CEO; and Mr. Sharad Khaitan, Chief Financial Officer. Before we proceed with this call, I would like to give a small disclaimer that this call may contain forward-looking statements, which are based on beliefs, opinions and expectations of the company as of date. Also, we request participants to strictly restrict their questions on the Molycop acquisition. Now I would like to invite Mr. Mehul Mohanka to initiate the proceedings for the call. Thank you, and over to you, sir.
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesThank you. Good morning, and a warm welcome to all the participants on the call. I'm joined this morning by -- with Sharad Khaitan, our CFO. Thank you for joining us today. It's a pleasure to connect with our valued investors, analysts and stakeholders. We are pleased to announce that Tega Industries in partnership with Apollo Funds as a significant minority investor has entered into a term sheet to acquire Molycop, a leading global supplier in grinding media for the mining industry, from an affiliate of American Industrial Partners, a private equity firm. The transaction is valued at approximately $1.48 billion and is expected to close by December 31, 2025, or early January 2026, subject to regulatory approvals. For Tega, the transaction is proposed to be funded through a mix of equity instruments, including preferential allotment and qualified institutional placements amounting to $248 million with a debt infusion in Tega about $112 million. The promoter family plans to take part in the preferential allotment and infuse INR 150 crores to INR 200 crores. We are also open to the idea of changing the mix of debt and equity, if so required. The deferred contingent liability is $120 million and will be honored upon the achievement of a certain predefined criteria with a specified time line. These criteria are primarily linked to the reopening of select closed mines where Molycop was previously a major supplier. This structure ensures that the liability is performance based and aligned with business upside linked to additional EBITDA from these contracts. If these EBITDA targets are not met, the deferred contingent liability will not get triggered. Molycop is a supplier of grinding media to the mining industry with a focus on the manufacture and sale of grinding media and chemicals for use in both semi-autogenous grinding mills and ball mills. These products are critical to mineral extraction of multiple minerals, but more specifically, gold and copper. The company's client network covers more than 400 mines in 40 countries. With the history spanning over 100 years, Molycop is recognized for its innovation, scale and reliability in supporting the mineral processing industry. Apollo Fund is a high-growth global alternate asset manager for more than 3 decades. It's investing expertise across its fully integrated platform, has provided businesses with innovative capital solutions for growth. As of June 2025, Apollo had approximately $840 billion of assets under management, enabling strong financial backing for this transaction. Their deep expertise and scale allows us to confidently execute and fund the strategic acquisition. The strategic complementary acquisition will establish Tega Industries as one of the world's leading designers and manufacturers of critical to operate consumables for certain production steps in the mining, mineral processing and material handling industries with an innovative and differentiated product portfolio. This acquisition marks a transformational step for significantly strengthening our leadership position in mining consumables. With complementary product portfolios, Tega in polymer mill liners and Molycop in grinding media, we are poised to offer complete mill optimization solutions. Our combined presence spans key mining regions across Europe, Middle East, Africa, CIS, Latin America, North America and Australia. The integration brings together 26 manufacturing sites enhancing proximity to customers and distribution strength. We expect meaningful revenue and cost synergies, particularly in SG&A and complementary sale of products. Importantly, this transaction will expand EBITDA margins without adding fixed costs while leveraging decades of global relationships. Considering the strong growth potential of the combined business, Tega Industries is expected to deliver a consolidated return on equity of 18%. This reflects our confidence in the strategic fit, operational synergies and disciplined capital management post acquisition. Over the next 2 years, our primary focus will be on seamless integration of businesses. We aim to align organizational structures, harmonize systems and embed a unified culture across teams. Our key priority will be unlocking revenue synergies through complementing opportunities and deeper customer engagement. We will also focus on joint R&D and innovation to enhance our product portfolio. The integration will be executed in phases to ensure business continuity and customer satisfaction. Our goal is to expand EBITDA margins from about current 11.5% to 15% and deliver long-term value without adding any additional fixed costs. As part of our synergy road map, we plan to relocate the current headquarters to a more strategic location with better global access, which is expected to yield cost savings of $7 million. This move has already been discussed with the management teams. We're also targeting a rationalization of selling and general administration expenses by approximately 7%, along with procurement synergies driven by economies of scale. Additionally, the establishment of global capability centers in low-cost locations is projected to generate an additional $5 million in annual savings. Overall, we expect this to unlock EBITDA level synergies of $20 million by year 2, scaling up to $30 million annually from year 4 onwards. These initiatives are aimed at enhancing operational efficiency, margin expansion and long-term value creation. I'd like to begin by assuring all investors and participants that the debt at Molycop level carries no recourse to Tega Industries. This means our existing business remains fully insulated from any financial uncertainties related to the acquisition preserving its stability and strength on a stand-alone basis. Post acquisition, our focus will be on disciplined financial management to deliver the business over the medium term. We plan to generate strong operating cash flows from the combined entity supported by expanded margins and cost synergies. A phased reduction in debt will be prioritized leveraging improved EBITDA performance. Capital expenditure will be optimized to support growth without straining liquidity. We will also explore strategic monetization of noncore assets if needed. Molycop's current debt stands at approximately $1 billion. In partnership with Apollo, our financial investor, we plan to co-invest and bring the debt down to $780 million from day 1. This reduction is expected to support an upgrade from our existing rating -- credit rating. And over the next 4 years, we aim to lower our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio to less than 2.5x. The $173 million EBITDA reported in your financial year '25 is going to lead to $50 million of free cash flow after we provide for interest and depreciation. We have actively communicated the road map of the acquisition to teams across both Tega and Molycop. The response has been highly encouraging with employees enthusiastic about the opportunities ahead. While both companies will continue to operate as distinct entities, they will be managed under a coordinated leadership framework to drive synergy and strategic alignment. Talent retention and cross-functional collaboration will be actively supported to preserve institutional knowledge. We will also establish joint governance mechanisms to oversee integration progress. The goal is to build a cohesive, agile organization that leverages the strengths of both entities to deliver enhanced customer value and sustainable growth. Given the diversified global footprint of both Tega and Molycop across multiple regions, we see minimal geopolitical risk exposure. In fact, recent U.S. tariffs are expected to strengthen our position in the U.S. market by creating entry barriers, further supporting the domestic growth and competitiveness. With that, we now open the floor for questions. We welcome your thoughts and are happy to address any queries that you may have.
Operator
Operator[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from the line of Renjith with Mahindra Manulife Mutual Fund.
Renjith Sivaram
AnalystsCongrats on the new acquisition. Sir, I just wanted to understand like when we look at the company that you have acquired, the revenues have been declining for whatever few years which you have given the press release. So what is the reason for that and how do you see coming back to growth, what's was your strategy? And also, do -- and this company has preference in high chrome grinding media, which is cast grinding media which Magotteaux or AIA Engineering manufacturers?
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesSo if you were to look at the last 5-year growth trajectory of Molycop, the years '21, '22 financial years were growth years. In '23, '24, it tapered primarily due to loss of 2 major customers due to mine closure and maintenance. And as I recently mentioned about the contingent deferred liability, it is linked to the reopening of those mines and those contracts and margins coming back into the business. If I was to normalize the year for those 2 mines that closed, that's actually been a growth year for them, both '23 and '24. And as far as the high chrome cast media strategy, we have a medium- to long-term view on high chrome cast media. We have expanded capacity in Molycop in high chrome cast media. And the strategy going forward is to monetize the growth in high chrome -- in Molycop in different markets across the world.
Renjith Sivaram
AnalystsSir, currently, do the supply high chrome cast media?
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesYes. In the last 2 years, they've been able to increase high chrome penetration from 0 to 62,000 tonnes in the past 2 years and the aim is to scale to 200,000 tonnes for the next...
Renjith Sivaram
AnalystsAnd sir, for primary or secondary grinding?
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesThat is for both.
Renjith Sivaram
AnalystsOkay. And what's the broad product mix of Molycop and what is your strategy segment-wise, if you can explain like since you have acquired this, you would have thought about it like for the next 3, 4 years, how do you want to scale each segment? That will be helpful. That's the last question from my side.
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesYes. So as you know, primarily Molycop is in the forged grinding media business, along with high chrome which has been a recent addition to their product portfolio. Today, forged media is the substantial portion of the revenue. And as explained earlier, the -- while the forge media will -- business will grow at about 5%, the addition of the high chrome strategy will increase the growth rates to over 7.5% over the next 3 years.
Renjith Sivaram
AnalystsOkay. So that means high chrome, you are expecting double-digit growth. Is that right?
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesThat would be correct.
Operator
OperatorNext question comes from the line of Chirag Muchhala with Centrum Broking.
Chirag Muchhala
AnalystsSir, the first question is on the margin expansion. So as you are saying that Molycop's margin, you plan to increase on the current level of 11% to 15%. It would be a bit helpful if you can also inform about how the historical trends of margins doing in the Molycop, as well as some of the grinding media category summary. And apart from that 2, 3 levers that you mentioned SG&A, et cetera. At the gross margin level, where do they operate and any other integrated revision [indiscernible] Molycop.
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesThanks for your question, Chirag. If you see Molycop past trends actually, the EBITDA margins have been well higher, and it has been about 14-odd percent even in the past actually. Currently, it's hovering around 11.5%, 12%. Over the next 2 years, our primary focus shall be on seamless integration of the business, and we aim to align the organization structure, harmonize systems and embed unified culture across the team. Our key priority will be unlocking the revenue synergies through the complementing opportunities and deeper customer engagement. There are a lot of potential for cost synergies as well, like we have mentioned earlier in the -- in our call. And all of them put together, along with the revenue synergies and the cost synergies, we expect the expansion in the EBITDA margins by about 70 bps to 100 bps year-on-year and take it to about 15%, 17% by year 5.
Chirag Muchhala
AnalystsOkay. And the [indiscernible].
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesChirag your voice is not clear. We have not been able to hear you.
Operator
OperatorMr. Muchhala, can we just go ahead, bring your phone closer to you and speak. We cannot hear you. Since we cannot hear Mr. Muchhala, we'll go for the next speaker. Our next question comes from the line of Mayank with Asian markets.
Mayank Bhandari
AnalystsSir, just you have given a good slide on the presentation about the product overlap that you are going to have in the merged entity. So could you provide this Molycop consumables or Molycop technology breakdown in the current revenue of Molycop?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesCurrently, the technology and the digital part is a very small portion in the overall Molycop revenue. And that's a key focus and priority area for us, how to increase the share of the digital and technology space in the overall scheme of things. And that's going to be a key driver for us in the revenue synergies. Data analytics, et cetera, has taken a key prominent space now, and all customers are looking forward to use this data, how not only to analyze what has been there, but even to have a preventive maintenance. And that's the key focus and criteria in times to come.
Mayank Bhandari
AnalystsSo consumer -- I see one more thing. I mean, basically in the mineral beneficiation or mineral preparation. Mineral preparation side, there is very less presence of Molycop. Is it true?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesNo, it's not like that.
Mayank Bhandari
AnalystsBecause pitchers and other equipments, you have not highlighted anything particularly from Molycop.
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesMolycop is into grinding media. Can you be specific to your question on beneficiation, what do you intend to?
Mayank Bhandari
AnalystsI'm just trying to understand on the mineral preparation side, if we look at the products that you highlighted, Molycop is not present. It is present on the mineral beneficiation side. But on the preparation side, it is not present.
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesYou're not clear in your distinction between preparation and beneficiation...
Mayank Bhandari
AnalystsSo basically...
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesAnd in the process plant, Molycop is present in the combination circuit, which is a grinding circuit and the downstream circuit.
Mayank Bhandari
AnalystsOkay. Grinding and downstream circuit...
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesYes, location recovery.
Mayank Bhandari
AnalystsPrimarily products that has been highlighted is SAG mill, ball mill and ...
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesYes, so grinding media is primarily used in grinding mills and hence, the largest use of Molycops' products is in the grinding ones, as is in Tega's case as well.
Mayank Bhandari
AnalystsAnd just in the Molycop consumables versus technology, what would be the margin differential? Is there any number?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesThe margins are higher than the technology space. They are almost doubled in the technology space over the normal course of products.
Mayank Bhandari
AnalystsAnd that part can grow by how much of the revenue CAGR is, what we understood?
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesWe are confident that it should grow at least year-on-year by about 25-odd percent. We should be able to grow that business.
Mayank Bhandari
AnalystsAnd sir, who would be your competitors in this space, particularly on the technology side?
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesNo one is there as of now.
Operator
OperatorNext question comes from the line of Varun Jain with Dolat Capital.
Varun Jain
AnalystsMy question is, can you give us a breakup of grinding media capacity for Molycop between forged and high chrome? And what is the utilization of both of these capacities as of now?
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesSo on forged, the capacity is 1.7 million tonnes. Capacity utilization is at about 70-odd percent. In High chrome, the current capacity is about 20,000 tonnes, and it's fully utilized.
Varun Jain
AnalystsSo you are saying that you want to take this 20,000 to 200,000 is your target for high chrome. So you will be adding close to 180,000 or so of capacity in this?
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesOver a period of time, Molycop currently also, like I mentioned, supply is about 60,000 tonnes of high chrome already in the marketplace, and that is done through contracted volumes with sub vendors. So we could call it as trading volume and that trading volume will continue to increase alongside capacity expansion of the existing plants.
Varun Jain
AnalystsAnd sir, so basically, I saw that Molycop's revenue CAGR over 9 years was close to 4%, but EBITDA was close to 1%. So even when it added the high chrome volumes and such, why was like the margins falling in now from 11% to 15%, how -- what initiatives are you going to take to win them back up?
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesSo high chrome is just a 2-year-old strategy. So it's just a recent addition starting '23 and steady-state business of Molycop has actually been growing at about of 4.5%, 5%, delivering about close to 14% EBITDA already, if you normalize that for the mine closure.
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesThe last year reported EBITDA were about 11.5% to 12%. It's not 1%.
Varun Jain
AnalystsNo, no. I was referring to the CAGR of the 9 years of EBITDA. And last question is this debt on the SPV, it will be your foreign currency borrowing or it will be from -- in INR and what would be the borrowing cost indicatives and will you be...
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesThere's no debt on the SPV. The debt will be on Molycop's books as it is today as well. We're just going to be refinancing the debt in Molycop's books because the change in management control triggers the refinancing. And we expect to get at least 20 to 30 basis points reduction in the interest rate because the leverage will be reduced from $1 billion to $780 million, and the credit rating will also improve subsequently.
Operator
Operator[Operator Instructions] Next question comes from the line of Shristi Jain with Niveshaay.
Shristi Jain
AnalystsI just have 2 questions, which customer segment or geography does Molycop helps you penetrate or any supply chain efficiencies that can be unlocked with this acquisition for us? And another is you mentioned proximity with the current customers or the more customers also with Molycop. So in that context, I want to understand how does Molycop's customer list overlap or add to Tega's? Or are there any long-term contracts of Molycop that we can leverage?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesThe Molycop, if you see, it's got a global footprint and the local closer to the customer strategy helps because the customers want the consumables at a shorter notice period. And considering the current situation, the local manufacturing facilities are more logical actually. For example, even if you take a U.S. example, Molycop has got its own manufacturing facilities there, and that helps us serve the customers there and there is no impact of any tariffs or regulations or any prohibitions as such.
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesAnd on the supply chain, there will be efficiencies in terms of procurement. Molycop has a large procurement team, which sources materials globally, which Tega can leverage on. On the overlap, I would say, every customer of Molycop would be a potential customer of Tega. At this present time, the overlap is not very significant. We have our own set of customers, but the idea would be to bring the complementary nature of both our product lines to the customer so that we can add value in their process efficiency.
Shristi Jain
AnalystsCan we expect any margin expansion for Tega as well with this acquisition and synergy moving forward?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesYes, there will be margin expansion because with increased volumes at no additional fixed costs, the entire gross margins, what we generate become a pass-through to the EBITDA, which will increase EBITDA margins. And over and above that, I'll get economies of scale as well and without any additional fixed costs, there is a significant improvement in the EBITDA margin.
Operator
OperatorNext question comes from the line of Kirtan Mehta with Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.
Kirtan Mehta
AnalystsCongratulations, sir, for the transaction. I wanted to understand the challenges which were faced by American Industrial Partners, when they hold the stake in Molycop between 2017 and '24, when they acquired the company, they acquired at around EV of $1.2 billion. Currently, when they are again sort of exiting out of it, it's around $1.5 billion. So probably they have not been able to achieve the targeted improvements in Molycop. So what were those challenges? Could you sort of elaborate?
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesSo American Industrial Partners, we don't perceive that they faced any challenges because during the period of their ownership, they've also been able to extract dividends from the business. We don't know exactly what is the mark on their fund, but we expect that they would have got at least an IRR of anywhere between 13% to 14% on this transaction. Today, the business is being sold by AIP because it reached end of life for them in their fund. So they've held this business for almost close to 8 years now, and it's in a fund, which is reaching end of life. So they are under compulsion to exit.
Kirtan Mehta
AnalystsRight. I understood. In terms of the cash flow generation wise, what was the cash flow generation over the last 2, 3 years?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesIf you see with the current levels about at an EBITDA of about $170 million. And if you reduce the interest and depreciation as well, you get a free cash flow of about $50 billion. If I add back the depreciation, it's about $110 million.
Kirtan Mehta
AnalystsSure. And when we implement our synergies, how would this free cash flow will improve over the next 3 to 4 years?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesWith the increase in synergies, you have cost savings, you have revenue enhancement and all of these leads to improved EBITDA with no additional fixed cost. And that entire gamut flows in as -- and increases our free cash flow.
Kirtan Mehta
AnalystsRight. And in terms of the CapEx requirements from the Molycop side, one, you highlighted about the high chrome facility where there is a possibility of the capacity expansion, so what -- are there any other areas that we'll have to invest the CapEx? Could you give us some broad idea of what kind of CapEx spend you envisage over the next 3, 4 years?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesNot a significant amount of CapEx, but about, say, $20 million to $30 million of CapEx infusion may be required over a period of time, which will be mainly done through the internal accruals there.
Kirtan Mehta
AnalystsAnd what is the sustenance CapEx levels?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesSustenance CapEx level will be close to about $20 million per year it.
Kirtan Mehta
AnalystsRight. In terms of the debt wise, you mentioned that we will be triggering basically some part of the debt repayment. Are you referring to the JPM facility, which was sort of $947 million debt which was arranged by JPM in November '24. And there, we are looking at the part payment?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesYes. It will be looked and that is what we are going to refinance.
Kirtan Mehta
AnalystsRight. Currently, the EV is around $1.5 billion, where we are contributing around $350 million, probably Apollo in the similar proportion will contribute around $110 million. So when we are looking to -- which will together be probably around $0.5 billion. So when we are looking for another $200 million payment out of debt, how -- where would that cash come from?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesThat cash will be infused by Apollo Funds directly into the Molycop as part of the preferential equity to reduce the debt level.
Kirtan Mehta
AnalystsRight. So they will be investing corresponding to our equivalent around 27%. Over and above that, there will also be infusing preferential equity?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesYes.
Kirtan Mehta
AnalystsRight. And would it be at the same valuation?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesIt's a preferential share. With a perpetual in nature, actually.
Operator
OperatorNext question comes from the line of Chirag Muchhala with Centrum Broking.
Chirag Muchhala
AnalystsSir, just 2, 3 follow-up questions. So on this high chrome that you mentioned, they have 20,000 tonnes of capacity, so in which country it is?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesIt's in the EMEA region, Chirag.
Chirag Muchhala
AnalystsSorry?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesIt's in the Middle East region.
Chirag Muchhala
AnalystsMiddle East. Okay. Okay, sir. Secondly, sir, can you give the gross block of this entity, Molycop?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesIt's about $700 million.
Chirag Muchhala
AnalystsOkay. And sir, depreciation, like you mention in your free cash flow comment, so that would be around $60 million per year. Is that correct?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesYes, $60 million is the depreciation charge.
Operator
OperatorNext question comes from the line of Bhalchandra Shinde Motilal Oswal AMC.
Bhalchandra Shinde
AnalystsSir, just 2 clarifications. Current net debt is around $995 million in Molycop, right? And as you mentioned that around $110 million kind of cash flows they are generating, is it free cash flow or operating cash flows?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesIt's an operating cash flow.
Bhalchandra Shinde
AnalystsOperating cash. Then few sites are saying that Molycop sales actually declined over the last 3 years. Is it right? Or how is the growth trajectory in Molycop?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesSo like we mentioned earlier, for financial year '21 and '22, you will see that the growth rates were pretty decent at Molycop. It's because in the last 2 years, there were certain mines which went into care and maintenance and were closed due to certain political reasons. That is why there has been a dip in the revenue. But with the opening of the mines, et cetera, you will find that uptick coming back and growth getting normalized.
Operator
OperatorNext question comes from the line of Hitendra Gupta with Systematix Shares.
Hitendra Gupta
AnalystsFirst of all, congratulation for this acquisition. I just wanted to understand the whole fundraising thing. So what I understand, Tega would be raising around $248 million in equity as well as $113 million as a corporate debt. So what would be the total raise because I understand the requirement is much higher than this because when -- somewhere you said in the call that you will be repaying around $220 million, your debt is going to come down from $1 billion to $780 million. So this $220 million from where we'll be funding this?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesSo the equity infusion will be $361 million by Tega, and the remaining will be by Apollo Funds. For the $361 million of equity infusion by Tega, we plan to raise about a debt of $110 million. And the remaining about $250 to $260 will be the fundraise what we intend to do. In our earlier call, we have also mentioned that we are open to recalibrate the levels of debt and equity if required. The debt being repaid at Apollo's level, that is being done through a preferential equity being infused by Apollo directly into the Molycop level.
Hitendra Gupta
AnalystsOkay. So that -- but Apollo's $220 million odd number would be...
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesThat's an equity participation for the 23% stake they are taking in the entity. It's $110 million number actually.
Operator
OperatorNext question comes from the line of Saurabh Ginodia with SMIFS Limited.
Saurabh Ginodia
AnalystsCongratulations for this acquisition. Sir, my first question with respect to this debt, it is sitting on the Molycop balance sheet. Can you give some context whether this debt has come on the book due to some acquisition which Molycop has done in the past?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesThere have been acquisitions by Molycop in the past as well, but there have been dividend payouts, et cetera, also for which debt was taken at the Molycop level.
Saurabh Ginodia
AnalystsYou mean to say this debt has come due to some big acquisition, which Molycop has been in the past? Or is there any other reason for this?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesAcquisitions has definitely been there, Saurabh, and there have also been payouts, which led to the increase in debt. And there have been legacy debt also in the Molycop level.
Saurabh Ginodia
AnalystsOkay. And what would be the reason for this legacy debt?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesIt's acquisition financing, operations, payout.
Saurabh Ginodia
AnalystsOkay. Sir, you have given the near-term target for the debt reduction at the Molycop level. Can you also help us understand what kind of debt level are you looking at for Molycop over the next 3 to 4 years?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesSo with the refinancing part, we will bring down the debt level lower down. And as mentioned earlier, we intend to bring it to about net debt to debt EBITDA by about 2.5x in the 3 to 4 years period.
Saurabh Ginodia
AnalystsAnd Mehul sir has mentioned in the opening comments regarding noncore asset monetization for -- at the Molycop level. So is it possible for you to quantify what kind of opportunity do we have in terms of noncore asset monetization?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesWe have identified those, Saurabh, but I don't think so at this junction, we would like to give those numbers.
Saurabh Ginodia
AnalystsOkay. You will not be able to qualify the quantum for this?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesNo, Saurabh. Just to give some ballpark number, it will be north of $70 million, $75 million.
Saurabh Ginodia
AnalystsMillion dollars, you mean to say?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesYes, $75 million.
Saurabh Ginodia
AnalystsOkay. And also just last question. What would be the average EBITDA to PAT conversion for Molycop, let's say, over the last 5 years?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesThe EBITDA to PAT, if you see last 2, 3 years, it's -- the last year, for example, at the Molycop level, it's almost flat actually because after the EBITDA, there was an interest payout and depreciation, which has resulted in a very low PAT level at Molycop.
Saurabh Ginodia
AnalystsIf just we were to see for the last 4, 5 years, average, is it possible for you to just give that number?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesThe last 4, 5 years, if you see, there's also been a lot of restructuring and onetime costs, et cetera, being taken by Molycop, so it will not be the right way to say it. So on a steady base if you see, FY '25, the last financial year after the EBITDA and interest payout and the depreciation expenses, it was almost flat.
Operator
OperatorNext question comes from the line of [ Anshul Jethi ] with LKP Securities Limited.
Unknown Analyst
AnalystsSir, if you could throw some light on the working capital cycle of Molycop and on a blended level with Tega and Molycop consolidated, how do you see it going in the next 2, 3 years? What is your target on that?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesThe working capital cycles at Molycop is less than about -- it's about 70 to 80-odd days, and that's how we want to retain it as of now.
Unknown Analyst
AnalystsAnd sir, you said that we are going to decrease the cost of funds by 200 basis points. At the inception level, what's the cost of borrowing at the moment for Molycop?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesIt's about 8.4.
Unknown Analyst
AnalystsOkay. And sir, when you have -- you mentioned about preferential infusing of funds via preferential shares from Apollo side. So will that be more of a debt-based preference share? Or will that be a convertible wherein Tega's share could come down from 77% to a certain extent?
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesThey are simple preferentials in perpetuity. So they are not convertible percent shares.
Operator
OperatorNext question comes from the line of Renjith with Mahindra Manulife Mutual Fund.
Renjith Sivaram
AnalystsJust wanted to understand like we generally hear that forged grinding media as a technology is kind of an antique technology and gradually high chrome will take over forged media. So in that perspective, like how do you see growth in forge media of 5% CAGR, which you mentioned? Because what we understand is that the metallurgy, everything is better for a high chrome grinding media versus a forged media and gradually high chrome will replace forged, that has been the narrative. So how do you expect forged to grow in such a scenario? Just wanted to understand that context.
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesYes. So we didn't mention that high chrome will replace forged. Forged and high chrome have 2 distinct applications in the grinding circuit. So we do not see high chrome cannibalizing forge media at all. Both the businesses in terms high chrome and forge will have its own growth trajectory. From our perspective, we see high chrome growing at a faster rate for Molycop because we're coming off a lower base. Forged media is expected to grow at a standard 5%, 5.5%, while high chrome will grow at the 20% for Molycop.
Renjith Sivaram
AnalystsSir, I didn't mean that we have to, but generally, when we go through the transcripts of AIA or Magotteaux, this has been the narrative that both these companies have created the market by cannibalizing on forged.
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesIs there a certain market where high chrome has got greater traction, for example, if you look at Africa and Australia. There has been high chrome which has been replacing some of the small-size forged media, small and medium. And recognizing that these particular markets, high chrome has had a higher conversion rate is why Molycop decided to launch its own high chrome media. But other than these 2 markets, we've not seen any pressure of high chrome in any of the other stronger markets of Molycop, which tend to be the Americas and Europe. And the larger diameter balls, which is the SAG mill -- sag balls, Molycop has clear leading positions.
Renjith Sivaram
AnalystsAnd sir, material specific is gold, platinum, copper specifically there you are -- is the highlight, which we see that because you require more high chrome, this has some properties, which gives it more viability in terms of extraction of the ore and other things. So these gold, copper, platinum, are you seeing this conversion more? Is it a mineral specific thing?
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesYes. So for Molycop, almost 83% of its revenues comes from gold and copper.
Renjith Sivaram
AnalystsOkay. So largely, you use your market presence is 100% in SAG mills and in ball mill is somewhere you believe that there have been some intrusion of high chrome. Is that the right way to look at it?
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesIn certain geographies, the way to negate that is to also supply high chrome in those markets.
Renjith Sivaram
AnalystsOkay. And now we have a facility in Middle East of 20,000 tonnes. And most of these companies geographies have put anti-dumping duty given that Magotteaux has facility in all these geographies, and that has been hurting the growth prospects of AIA Engineering also. So now we also forced to put up high chrome facilities to these geographies to address that ADD concerns of most of these geographies?
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesSo Molycop already has manufacturing facilities in those geographies. So we would just be...
Renjith Sivaram
AnalystsBut that is for forged, right? I'm talking about high chrome. High chrome, you have only 1 factory in Middle East.
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesNo. We have a factory in Indonesia as well, and there are further capacity expansion in other geographies. So antidumping also comes into play if your pricing is considered lower than that of a local manufacturer. But Molycop strategy has not been to lower the price compared to global players. We've always commanded a premium.
Renjith Sivaram
AnalystsBut despite that premium, your margin is 11%, so unable to understand, is it largely to do with the overhead, so why the margins are at 11%, while AIA Engineering is at 23%?
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesYes. So normalized margin for other than those couple of customers that were lost in year '24 is 15%. There was a reduction in the top line in that year. So that contributes to the reduction into the margin. And we don't see that to be the phenomenon that will move on from here on. We are going to create cost synergies, which is also going to directly contribute to the margins going forward.
Renjith Sivaram
AnalystsOkay. So you -- is there any thought process that you might kind of put -- if you got too many factories you might think of joining some of these factors together, thereby reducing the overall overheads and that can in a way enable us to improve the margins. Is that one of the strategies that you might be looking at?
Mehul Mohanka
ExecutivesToo early in the day to comment on that. But if we see that rationalizing the operations contributes to additional incremental EBITDA gains, we would definitely look at that as well.
Operator
OperatorLadies and gentlemen, due to time constraints, we have reached the end of question-and-answer session. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments.
Sharad Khaitan
ExecutivesThank you, everyone, for participating in the conference call. We welcome your thoughts. And in case if you have any other queries, please reach out to us. We will be happy to answer them. Thank you once again.
Operator
OperatorThank you. On behalf of Tega Industries Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.
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