PROJECT

Projects

Summary of Proposed Investment

Project Number

9950

Company Name

SREI INTERNATIONAL LIMITED

Date SPI Disclosed

Feb 25, 2000

Country

India

Industry

Financial Markets

Status

Completed

Sector

Leasing Services

Department

Regional Industry - FIG Asia & Pac

Environmental Category

FI

Previous Events

Approved : Jun 13, 2000
Signed : Jun 13, 2000
Invested : Jul 24, 2000

Project Description

Summary Of Project Information (SPI)

Project NameIndia – SREI II

RegionAsia and the Pacific
SectorFinancial Services
Project No009950
Projected Board DateMarch 31 2000
Company NameSREI International Finance
Technical Partner and/or Major Shareholders

The Kanoria family, a joint business family from Calcutta, controls 50.6% of SREI International Finance, with rest of the ownership allocated among: IFC (9.1%), DEG (the German government’s development agency)(3.5%), FMO (the Dutch government’s development agency)(6.1%), domestic financial institutions and banks (14.3%), and non-resident Indians and the general public (16.4%). SREI International Finance is a publicly traded company in India.
The Kanoria family has been operating SREI since its inception in 1989 and has demonstrated a strong track record in efficiently managing the operations of the company.

Project Cost Including proposed IFC investment

     IFC Loan: US$10 million; IFC equity: US$5 million.

Location of project and Description of site

SREI International Finance is headquartered Calcutta and has several offices throughout the country.

Description of Company and Purpose of Project

SREI''s primary area of business has been financing (under lease and hire/purchase arrangements) heavy construction equipment to infrastructure related projects. In addition, a small portion of SREI''s business is in small and medium scale infrastructure project financing and this segment is expected to represent a larger share of the company''s future business volume.
The project consists of making available a credit facility of US$10 million and an investment of up to US$ 5 million in subordinated bonds (with warrants) issued by SREI. The purpose of the funding is to allow SREI to further expand its small and medium scale infrastructure finance activities in the power, transportation and port sectors. The need to develop India’s infrastructure sector, to underpin the ongoing economic liberalization efforts as well as to ensure sustained economic growth and export expansion, is today widely recognized. The demand for infrastructure investment is expected to grow substantially as the process of industrial modernization accelerates and urbanization continues. A major constraint on private infrastructure investment, however, has been the lack of necessary market mechanisms to provide funds in terms of maturity, structure, and volume required. This is true not only of the larger infrastructure projects, but also small to medium sized projects, which are wholly dependent on local financial institutions for financing, particularly for debt financing. SREI is one of the few private financial institutions in India that have been engaged in financing assets in the infrastructure sector.
     
Environmental Category and Issues
     
This is a category FI type 2 project according to IFC’s environmental review procedure. SREI has committed to continuing to operate their environmental management system that will ensure that investments are consistent with applicable host country environmental laws and regulations as well as applicable World Bank Group environmental, health and safety guidelines and policies; confirming that appropriate individuals who will have responsibility for environment; attending IFC’s environmental management workshops; submitting an environmental management plan; ensuring that category A projects are cleared by IFC’s Environment Division; and submitting an annual environmental performance report
     

Date SPI sent to Infoshop February 25, 2000

For Additional Information contact: Corporate Relations Unit -
telephone: (202) 473-7711
facsimile: (202) 974-4384

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