KPR Mills Raises Rs 105 Crore From Blue River Capital, Argonaut & Brandot International
Tue, 12/12/2006 - 15:48 — Sahad P VCoimbatore-based textile and apparel company KPR Mills has received private equity funding to the tune of Rs 105 crore from Blue River Capital, and joined by other investors Brandot International and Argonaut Private Equity, reports The Economic Times. KPR Mill, which has revenues of Rs 450 crore, owns spinning, knitting and garment making facilities.
Brandot International is owned by Martin Trust, a leading serial investor in the global apparel and textile space. This will be his first investment in India. There are also reports of Trust forming a 50:50 JV with south-based Bannari Amman in apparel exports space.
KPR Mills is now preparing to go for an IPO.
The funds will be used to part-fund its Rs 500-crore expansion, while the rest of the funds have been raised as a loan under the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS). The company is now working on doubling its spinning capacity from the existing 1,10,000 spindles. It will also set up a new garment making facility in Coimbatore, which is expected to boost its Rs 140-crore export business.
Blue River Capital is founded by Shujaat Khan and affiliated with Edelweiss Capital. In April, Blue River invested $10 million in Aurangabad Electricals. Argonaut Capital, backed by American billionaire George Kaiser, recently invested $10 million Koutons Retail, a Delhi-based men's retail company.



