Srei Infra plans global fund, FY10 net jumps 90%

Kolkata-based Srei Infrastructure Finance is planning to launch a dedicated global fund with a corpus of minimum $500 million.

"We are looking for an international infrastructure fund with a corpus of minimum $500 million," Srei Chairman and Managing Director Hemant Kanoria said today.

Srei Joint Managing Director Saud Siddique said they would look for an anchor investor for the fund, before going ahead with aggressive roadshows. "We hope to take 10-15 per cent in this proposed fund," he said.

Srei had a few domestic infrastructure funds and accumulated assets under management at Rs 800 crore, before the redemption of about Rs 350 crore recently.

Speaking on the company's financial results, Kanoria said that the consolidated net profit for 2009-10 stood at Rs 155.86 crore, nearly 90 per cent over the previous fiscal.

The consolidated turnover was Rs 9,000 crore, of which Rs 6,000 crore was generated by Srei Equipment Finance and rest by parent company Srei Infrastructure.

In 2010-11, the company is aiming for a business of Rs 12,000 crore on a consolidated basis. Srei Infra's standalone net profit was Rs 111.49 crore, as against Rs 50.36 crore registered in 2008-09.

Kanoria said that the company has received five road projects, with equity interest varying from 10 to 49 per cent in respective consortiums. The total cost incurred for building 1,000 km of roads would be Rs 5,000 crore, he added.

Commenting on the proposed merger of Quippo with Srei, Kanoria said the process was on and would take eight-nine months to complete. "The net worth of the company will move up to Rs 2,500 crore from the current Rs 1,200 crore, and it will help us in leveraging to raise funds," he added.

Srei was planning to raise a debt of about Rs 8,000-9,000 crore during the current fiscal to meet its disbursement targets for the year.