Private equity firm 3i Group may invest 8-10 billion rupees (99-24 million pounds) in a south Indian port operator for a stake of up to 26 percent, the Mint newspaper said, citing an official at the Indian firm.
3i has filed for approval with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), which clears overseas investments into India, the paper cited Chinta Visweswar Rao, chairman of CVR Group, which controls Krishnapatnam Port Co, as saying.
The port operator will sign an agreement with 3i only after it “obtained clearance from FIPB”, Rao was cited as saying.
The public relations firm for 3i in India said the firm would not comment on any deal until it was done.
An FIPB official declined comment, Mint said.
Krishnapatnam Port Co is a developer and operator of an all-weather, deep-water port in southern Andhra Pradesh state, the paper said, and the investment would be the biggest by a foreign private equity firm in the sector.
3i in April said it had raised $1.2 billion for its India Infrastructure Fund and that it would target about 10 investments. It has already put $227 million in Adani Power and $101 million in an engineering and construction firm.
Private equity investing in India rose 3.2 percent to $6.8 billion in the first half of the year, according to the Asia Venture Capital Journal, as the credit crunch soured deals in most Western economies.
Source: Reuters