SREI Venture to raise $250 mn infrastructure fund by April 2007

SREI Venture Capital is raising a $250 mn infrastructure-focused fund by April 2007. The company plans to tap the UK’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) or the main UK market. This will be SREI’s first overseas fund-raising, with the company’s contribution at 2-5%. The new fund will focus on the entire gambit of infrastructure projects in India right from oil & gas to roads to power projects.

SREI Venture Capital is a wholly owned subsidiary of SREI Infrastructure Finance, which is into financing infrastructure equipment, infrastructure projects and renewable energy projects. SREI Infrastructure manages assets worth of around Rs. 4500 crores.

This is the second time that SREI is attempting to raise a Rs. 1000 crore-plus fund after it launched the India Global Competitive Fund (IGCF) in mid-2005; so far, the fund has raised around $80 mn (Rs. 360 crores) and is in the process of raising further funds.

International Finance Corporation (IFC), DEG, Germany (a financial institution owned by the Government of Germany), FMO, the Netherlands (financial institution owned by the Government of the Netherlands) and BIO (financial institution owned by the Government of Belgium) are among the large stakeholders in the company.

Read the Business Standard article.

EBRD invests Rs. 40 crores for a 15% stake in SREI’s Russian unit

SREI Infrastructure & Finance Limited is diluting a 15% stake in its Russian arm Zao SREI Leasing to The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) for a consideration of around Rs. 40 crores. Zao SREI Leasing is the wholly owned Russian subsidiary of Kolkata-based SREI Group and is held through the group’s German arm, IIS GmbH.

SREI has set up Zao SREI in 2005, and is involved in construction equipment leasing in Russia and CIS countries. It recently structured and financed work-over rigs to be deployed in West Siberia. SREI said its immediate plan was to extend presence from the capital Moscow to St. Petersburg and other regions in Russia. Apart from EBRD, few other strategic investors are also interested in picking up stake in the Russian arm of SREI. However, Zao SREI Leasing will continue to be a subsidiary of the SREI Group. In future, Zao SREI may participate in PPP projects like its parent company in India.

Read the Business Standard and The Economic Times articles.