Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd has raised $10 million from Proparco, the private sector investment arm of the French development agency AFD, and FMO (The Netherlands Development Finance Company or Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V.) through foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) on a private placement basis, as per a stock market disclosure.
Jain Irrigation allotted 500 FCCBs to each company (a total of 1,000 FCCBs) at a price of $1,000 a unit, aggregating to $10 million. The bonds are issued on 3 per cent coupon rate per annum and will mature in October 2017 and May 2018.
The bonds were issued by the company to both the investors in February this year.
Founded in 1963, Jalgaon-based Jain Irrigation is one of the largest players in the agro-industrial business, controlling a large chunk of the irrigation market, particularly in the micro and drip irrigation segment. It owns companies and plants throughout India, as well as in the USA, the UK, Turkey, Switzerland and Israel, and employs more than 7,000 people.
The company has business presence in three complementary sectors – water and irrigation; agriculture, farming and food processing, and clean energy, including solar energy.
The deal appears to be part of the $200 million financing raised by the company last year, which included funding through equity, FCCBs and external commercial borrowings (ECBs). Jain Irrigation got equity funding of $71.84 million from Mount Kellett Capital Management, Lantau Institutional Investor, Vista Institutional Investor (Mauritius) Ltd and International Finance Corp. Last May, it also acquired its international partner in the 50:50 Israeli joint venture NaanDan Irrigation, for an undisclosed sum.
Proparco is the private sector investment arm of the French development agency AFD and it is also one of the key investors in Lok Capital II LLC. It has recently invested $60 million in NSL Renewable Power Pvt Ltd, along with other investors.
FMO invests in private sector projects in developing countries and emerging markets. It acts as a funding agency in Africa, Asia, Europe, Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Most recently, it invested $30 million in APM Terminals Callao in Peru and last month, it put in an undisclosed amount in Au Financier.
In the same space, EPC Industries raised Rs 19.06 crore from Reliance Net in January this year.
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(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)