L&T Infrastructure Finance to raise $100 mn in debt from IFC

By Debjyoti Roy

  • 27 Feb 2017

International Finance Corporation, the private-sector arm of the World Bank, plans to provide Rs 666 crore ($100 million) in debt funding to L&T Infrastructure Finance Ltd.

The proposed investment, to be made via non-convertible debentures, will help the a non-banking financial company to fund solar energy projects across India, IFC said in a disclosure.

L&T Infrastructure Finance is a wholly owned unit of L&T Finance Holdings Ltd, the financial services holding arm of engineering giant Larsen & Toubro Ltd.

It began operations in 2006 and offers project finance in sectors such as power, telecom, energy, water and roads. It also offers debt advisory and arranging services. Besides, it has a private equity asset management platform to make investments in infrastructure companies, according to its website.

IFC has an active private equity-style investment practice in India. It also lends to firms and has an active limited partner, or LP, portfolio in India where it backs PE and VC funds.

IFC recently committed to provide $47.5 million (Rs 318 crore) in debt funding to drugmaker Granules India Ltd.

Last month, it committed to invest $20 million in IDG Ventures India's third country-focused fund. The third fund has a target corpus of $200 million.

The World Bank arm has made debt investments in a number of companies in India. In September last year, for instance, it said it would invest up to $40 million in Bengaluru-based microfinance firm Ujjivan Financial Services Ltd via debt.

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