IFC, the private sector investment arm of the World Bank, will provide $7.5 million in debt funding to Noida-based Bhilwara Energy Ltd (BEL) to develop its 20 megawatt wind power project under LNJ Power Ventures Ltd in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.
The total cost of the project is estimated at $21.6 million (Rs 117 crore) and IFC is providing $7.5 million (41 crore) to the company to finance a part of the project, expected to be commissioned by this March.
BEL will hold 74 per cent stake in the project and RSWM Ltd (RSWM), a flagship company for yarn and textiles manufacturing business of the LNJ Bhilwara Group, will hold 26 per cent stake.
The entire power generated by the project is expected to be utilised by facilities owned by RSWM. It operates several manufacturing facilities in Rajasthan.
Founded in 2006, BEL operates as a subsidiary of LNJ Bhilwara Group and currently operates Malana Power Company Ltd, an 86 megawatt project in Himachal Pradesh, along with SN Power. Bhilwara Energy also has AD Hydro Power Ltd, a 192 megawatt project in Himachal Pradesh, being jointly developed by Bhilwara Energy and SN Power of Norway. It has a pipeline of projects of about 1,800 megawatt in different parts of India and Nepal. The firm is majority owned by the promoter group and the remaining stake is held by various investors, including IFC (which holds a 5.42 per cent stake).
Other investors include FE Clean Energy Group which co-invested with IFC to pick a minority stake in Bhilwara Energy in July 2010.
Previously, New York Life International India Fund II, a fund managed by Jacob Ballas Capital India Pvt Ltd, Jacob Ballas Capital India Pvt Ltd and WIH Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wachovia Corp had invested $25.61 million in Bhilwara Energy.
(Edited by Prem Udayabhanu)