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The private equity arm of Standard Chartered has invested $70 million in Prime Focus.
The half equity and debt investment is to help service the foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) repayment requirement of $79 million, coming up for redemption on December 13.
Standard Chartered Private Equity has also invested Rs 200 crore for a minority stake in Ocean Sparkle Ltd, a port operations and management services company.
The company will use part of the funds to finance its capital expenditure and expand its client base.
In the case of Prime Focus, it is a visual entertainment service provider with two to three-dimensional movie conversion. It is one of the few company’s to raise funds in the current volatile market, and to replace debt with equity through a marque investor like the Standard Chartered.
In July, the company had announced plans to raise $150 million by share sale in the US to fund its operations in that region.
Prior to that in May, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala had hiked his stake by investing Rs 10.72 crore in the firm by buying shares from the Royal Bank of Scotland. The deal was transacted through a bulk buy on the exchange.
Prime Focus' existing lenders include YES Bank and IDBI.
>amritanair.ghaswalla@thehindu.co.in
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