The Hindu Business Line : Srei group's Quipo Infra raises Rs 150-cr equity

Kolkata March 9 Quipo Infrastructure Equipment Ltd (QIEL), a member of the Srei Group, has raised Rs 150 crore of equity from IDFC Private Equity Fund 11, managed by IDFC PE (managing funds of Rs 2,850 crore) and GIC Special Investments of Singapore.

The transaction, yet to receive all statutory approvals, has been assisted by HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India) Pvt Ltd.

Briefing newspersons here, Mr Hemant Kanoria, Managing Director of Srei Infrastructure Finance, said funds from the enhanced equity will be utilised to part finance the Rs 3,500-crore capital expenditure plan of QIEL in the next two years.

Mr Kanoria said both IDFC PE and GIC will be holding 15.5 per cent each in QIEL, effectively reducing Srei Infrastructure Finance's holding to around 15.5 per cent from the existing 26 per cent. Srei's investment in QIEL, set up in 2001-02, of Rs 12.5 crore has today appreciated to around Rs 75 crore, said Mr Kanoria.

He said having identified infrastructure sector as the principal growth area for the group, Srei has built a business model revolving around financing of infrastructure, construction and mining equipment, infrastructure project finance and renewable energy systems.

Putting its asset base at around Rs 300 crore, Mr Sunil Kanoria, Managing Director of QIEL, said Quipo was the country's largest equipment rental company, servicing the high growth verticals of construction, oil and gas, telecom and energy. These, along with Quipo Valuation and Asset Development, are expected to power the company's future growth, he pointed out.

Trained operations

Besides having a modern equipment/asset bank for construction and other capital intensive sectors, QIEL also has a large pool of trained operations and maintenance personnel spread across the country.

Promoting the concept of shared infrastructure as a new initiative, through renting out of on-shore oil rigs to oil majors, QIEL has a tie-up with Cairn and ONGC, and in telecom, where the bulk of the capex is expected to be funnelled, the company is engaged in renting out of towers to telecom operators.

Mr Kanoria said the plan was to build some 6,000 more towers, each costing around Rs 26 lakh, mainly Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, where the Group has a strong presence in construction equipment rentals. QIEL also has a joint venture with L&T and others like Nagarjuna Finance for its operations in the southern States.

He said the company, through its fully owned subsidiary Quipo Telecom Infrastructure Ltd, was involved in the renting of towers to leading telecom operators of the country.

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