Srei Equipment to raise Rs. 7.500cr

Srei Equipment Finance, a joint venture company between Srei Infrastructure Finance and BNP Pribas, has decided to raise up to Rs. 7,500 crore debt in the current financial year to fund the increasing infrastructure funding demand in the country.

The proposed funds will be mobilized through term loans from banks, securitizing and bonds and some quasi-equity would also be raised in the second half of the current financial year, Executive Director, Finance, K K Mohanthy, said, adding that the promoters are not planning to infuse any fresh capital in the joint venture at the moment.

The Srei Equipment Finance had Rs. 900 crore authorized capital and the company does not have any plant to take term deposits though it is registered with Reserve Bank of India as a deposit taking non-banking financial company. During its first year of operation, it had disbursed Rs. 5,500 crore and hoped to raise it to Rs. 10,000 crore during the current fiscal.

He pointed out that in the beginning of the fiscal the company thought that the downturn will continue and as such the disbursement target was kept at the previous year’s level but in the current scenario, the company believes it would be in the range of Rs. 10,000 crore. Srei Equipment Finance funds infrastructure equipment and projects. It also finances infrastructure development and provides advice in all verticals of the infrastructure sector, he concluded.

27 June 2009