Karuturi acquires 0.1 mn acre in Ethiopia

To be used for cultivating rice, vegetables, palm oil and sugarcane

According to Ramakrishna Karuturi, managing director, Karuturi Networks, "After acquiring the land, the company is in the process of building up a further land bank of 0.65 million acres. The Government of Ethiopia had granted 750,000 acres of land to the company."

"The company is planning to finance the project through both debt and equity," he added.

Currently, the company has in place a syndicated debt of $85 million and is planning to raise a further $100 million by diluting a 10 per cent stake in its wholly-owned subsidiary 'Karuturi Overseas Ltd', which is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to generate overseas investments for the company in Kenya, Ethiopia, Europe and Dubai.

Talking of the revenues from the new land acquisitions in Ethiopia, Karuturi said, "The revenues are expected to flow into the balance sheet of the company from the third quarter of the present financial year and revenues from sugar and palm oil cultivation are expected to come in from the year 2010 and 2011 respectively."