International Finance Corporation, the private-sector investment arm of the World Bank, plans to make a debt investment of up to Rs 106 crore ($15 million) in Hyderabad-based Dodla Dairy Ltd, it said in a disclosure.
Dodla Dairy will use the proceeds to expand and upgrade its existing manufacturing infrastructure by purchasing new equipment for select processing plants, the disclosure added.
Dodla Dairy, which counts US private equity firm TPG Growth as its backer, had received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India in October last year to float its initial public offering.
Incorporated in May 1995, Dodla procures, processes and markets milk and value-added dairy products such as curd, ghee, butter, flavoured milk and ice cream. It gets about two-thirds of its revenue from milk and the remaining from dairy products.
Promoted by Dodla Sesha Reddy and Dodla Sunil Reddy, the firm operates under the brand names ‘Dodla Dairy’ and ‘Dairy Top’. It claims to be the second-largest by market share and the third-biggest milk procurer among the private players in India, with an average procurement of 1 million litres of raw milk per day. It has factories in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and also runs operations in Uganda and Kenya.
IFC
Besides debt investments, the World Bank’s investment arm also makes direct private equity-style bets in India across sectors. It is also an investor in private equity and venture capital firms focused on India.
In India’s dairy sector, IFC invested up to $17 million (Rs 92.7 crore) in Pune-based Parag Milk Foods Pvt. Ltd in 2013.
The IFC’s other debt investments include non-banking finance firm Bajaj Finance Ltd, in which it put in $150 million (Rs 1,068 crore).
In November 2018, it put in $50 million (Rs 350 crore) in debt financing in lender Ujjivan Small Finance Bank.