International Finance Corporation today said it will invest 12 million dollars as equity in fibre glass maker Owens Corning (India) to help it expand its manufacturing facility in Maharashtra. The expansion of glass melter and related downstream equipment capacity by Owens Corning will result in significant energy and efficiency improvements, IFC said in a release. With Owens Corning's expansion of capacity at Taloja facility, India's installed glass-fibre capacity will increase to 67,000 tons a year by the end of 2007. The demand for glass-fibre in India is expected to increase by 18 per cent a year over the medium term, driven by growing infrastructure and automotive sectors, IFC said. IFC's investment will help the company continue to improve efficiency and competitiveness, Owens Corning Managing Director Satish Kulkarni said. Owens Corning is a joint venture between US-based Owens Corning and India's Mahindra and Mahindra. (ET) […]

Srei Infrastructure Finance acquired a 76 per cent stake in Hyderabad Information Technology Venture Enterprises Ltd, a venture capital outfit. The venture capital firm was set up in 2000 jointly by the Andhra Pradesh Development Corporation, the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation and the Small Industries Development Bank of India. The exact amount of the deal could not be known. The Hyderabad firm floated its first fund with an initial corpus of Rs 15 crore. It came out with a second fund of Rs 50 crore. After the shareholders’ approval, Srei will pick up a 51 per cent stake in the initial fund and another 25 per cent in the second. Hemant Kanoria, vice chairman and managing director of Srei, said the corpus of the fund would be hiked to promote investments in Andhra Pradesh. The firm invested Rs 12 crore in seven IT companies from the first fund.(The Telegraph) […]