Icomm Tele Raises Rs 120 Crore From Tano Capital And Kotak Investment
Exclusive: Hyderabad based telecom equipment manufacturing company Icomm Tele Ltd has received Rs 120 crore funding from two leading private equity funds. Tano India Private Equity Fund I has invested Rs 50 crore. Immediately prior to this deal, Kotak Investment Advisors invested Rs 70 crore in the equity shares of the company.
This is the eighth investment in India of Tano Capital. Its previous investments include $7.4 million in Nasik-based Anil Printers, $15 million in ABG Motors, $20 million in Pune-based Virgo Engineers, an undisclosed amount in Moja Shoes, a shoe company based in Sonepat in Haryana, and about $8 million (Rs 33 crore) in Bangalore-based Promac Engineering Industries Ltd.
Icomm is one of the largest domestic manufacturers of telecom infrastructure and equipment. The company has grown its revenues and PAT at a CAGR of 58 per cent and 80 per cent, respectively, over the period FY04-FY07. The company ended FY07 with revenues of Rs 760.3 crore and a PAT of Rs 33.2 crore. According to internal estimates, the company is expected to achieve a growth of 88 per cent in revenues and over 100 per cent in PAT over FY2007 financials.
Promoted by P. Ramarao, a first generation entrepreneur, Icomm is one of the largest manufacturers and turnkey solution providers of telecom equipment and infrastructure in India. It also has a presence in power transmission manufacturing and has one of the largest domestic facilities for manufacture of transmission towers.
Icomm’s client list includes BSNL, MTNL, Reliance, Vodafone, Airtel, Nokia, Alcatel, PowerGrid Corporation of India, State Electricity Boards and the Ministry of Defence. Icomm has a total annual capacity of about 200,000 MT at Nagaram, near Hyderabad. The manufacturing is fully backward integrated with facilities for designing, steel rolling, galvanising, manufacturing and assembly. The company also manufactures and supplies telecom tower shelters at its Nagaram unit with a capacity of 10,800 shelters annually as of now. The tower business has clients like Reliance Infocomm, Bharti, Ericsson, Siemens, PowerGrid Corporation of India and various state electricity boards.
