KKR agrees to lend $100 mln to India's Avantha Group

REUTERS - Global private equity firm KKR & Co LP has agreed to lend about $100 million to India's Avantha Group to help it grow its businesses and improve its capital structure, the Indian company said on Thursday.

KKR is an existing investor in group company Avantha Power & Infrastructure Ltd . Other group companies include Crompton Greaves Ltd and Ballarpur Industries Ltd .

Prior to this deal, KKR's non-bank financial company had at the end of September arranged around $1.4 billion of loans in 32 deals in India since 2009.

Private equity firms like KKR, Apollo Global Management and Olympus Capital are raising credit funds and increasing their use of loans in Asia, plugging a gap as banks retreat from lending.

 

(Reporting by Stephen Aldred in HONG KONG; Writing by Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)