Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa’s Fairfax India Holdings Corporation announced on Friday that it had raised $550 million (around Rs 3,700 crore) through a one-year bank loan.
In a statement, Fairfax said the debt had been raised from a syndicate of Canadian banks, but did not name them. The investment firm said that it had the option of extending the loan for an additional year.
Last December, Fairfax India had said it planned to raise as much as $1.5 billion (Rs 10,000 crore) more to invest in the country.
At the time, Fairfax said it intended to issue various securities including debt over the next two years or so to mobilise the amount in tranches.
The firm has invested fairly aggressively in India across sectors such as financial services, chemicals, aviation and logistics
On Thursday, Fairfax-backed Go Digit Infoworks Services Pvt. Ltd, the parent of Go Digit General Insurance Ltd, agreed to acquire ITI Reinsurance Ltd from The Investment Trust of India Ltd.
Earlier this year, Fairfax said it was acquiring a majority stake in Catholic Syrian Bank.
A year ago, Fairfax India bought additional stake in the Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) from GVK Power & Infrastructure Ltd for $200 million.
This came months after it had completed the acquisition of a 38% stake in BIAL for $385.5 million (Rs 2,520 crore then) in March 2017.
The Toronto-listed investment firm recently saw a leadership change in India with Sumeet Maheshwari taking over from Harsha Raghavan as the managing director and chief executive officer for Fairbridge Capital Pvt. Ltd, the advisor to Fairfax in the country.
