Jain Irrigation today announced that its subsidiary Sustainable Agro-commercial Finance Ltd (SAFL) — a non-banking finance corporation — has raised funds worth Rs 112 crore in a mix of equity shares and long-term debt.

“We are glad to announce that SAFL has successfully raised funds consisting of tier-1 and tier-2 capital aggregating Rs 112 crore yesterday,” Jain Irrigation said in a regulatory filing.

The company raised Rs 42 crore funds through sale of equity shares to the UK-based firm Mandala Capital AG Ltd, while the remaining Rs 70 crore was a long tenure debt for six years in the form of 10 per cent unsecured non-convertible listed debentures, it said

“This has raised the tier-1 and tier-2 capital of SAFL to Rs 208 crore. This fund-raising will help SAFL grow substantially in the next few years as it had no debt prior to the above transaction,” Jain Irrigation said.

Post the investment, Mandala holds 20 per cent of the capital of SAFL, while Jain Irrigation’s shareholding has come down to 49 per cent as was originally planned at the start of SAFL’s operations in 2012, it said.

Jain Irrigation said this would help the company improve its working capital cycle further and grow its Micro Irrigation Systems (MIS) business and other product sales to small and marginal farmers in Maharashtra and adjoining states in next fiscal year.

SAFL, which provides agri loans, is promoted by Jain Irrigation, while International Finance Corporation (IFC) — a member of the World Bank Group, is a shareholder. It has so far served over 15,000 farmers since its inception in 2012.

Jain Irrigation is the world’s second largest in field drip irrigation. Its other businesses include food processing, onion dehydration, tissue culture, and solar appliances, among others.

The shares of Jain Irrigation were trading up at Rs 39.30 a piece at 11.15 hours on the BSE.

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