IFCI Venture Capital Funds Ltd (IVCF) will invest Rs 16 crore in Luminous Teleinfra Ltd in the first round of funding for acquiring a small stake in the company. Luminous, a part of Delhi-based SAR group which also makes invertors and other power solutions in the same brand name, is launching its passive telecom infrastructure venture.
Luminous will use the capital for a manufacturing unit in Himachal Pradesh to manufacture deep-cycle telecom batteries, power management units, power conversion devices and solutions for reduction in operating expenditures and carbon emissions for telecom operators, a release said.
Luminous Teleinfra claims to have developed "unique technologies" for improvement of energy efficiency in telecom BTS (Base Trans-receiver Station) sites through reduction of diesel consumption by the operators by as much as 70 per cent. These technologies will enable the use of renewable energy sources like wind and solar power to substantially reduce operating expenditure and carbon emission for telecom operators.
The company also has plans to acquire companies abroad as part of its expansion plans. In order to fund its growth plans the company will raise the additional equity capital in future, the release said.
The SAR Group is known for its power solution equipments under 'Luminous' brand. Besides Luminous Teleinfra, the group includes Luminous Power Technologies, Luminous Engineering and Technology Services and Lectrix Motors. It had formed Luminous Teleinfra Ltd this year only, as part of its first phase of foray into telecom sector with a capital outlay of Rs 200 crore.
Luminous Power Technologies in June last year raised $20.3 million from CLSA Capital Partners.
Another company in this space that raised money is Acme TelePower which got backing from Monsoon India Inflection and Jackson Heights Investments which together invested Rs 400 crore. They also raised Rs 197 crore from DB International, Earthstone Holdings and Kotak Mahindra Capital.