Tata Group to raise $1 billion infrastructure fund
28 May 2009
The Tata Group will raise a $1 billion (around Rs4,700 crore) fund for investing in infrastructure projects in the country. The money so raised will be used to fund the group's investments of around Rs20,000 crore planned for the next three years.
Tata Realty and Infrastructure Fund (TRIL) said it would invest in various infrastructure projects in the country, some of which have already been identified.
TRIL has raised a total of $700 million (Rs3,200 crore) since its inception in March 2007. About 20 per cent of the amount has already been deployed, Sanjay Ubale, managing director of TRIL, said.
The new fund, to be raised from foreign investors and pension funds, among other sources, would be deployed mostly in foreign direct investment (FDI)-compliant projects, he said.
The group will invest Rs11,000 crore in real estate, Rs5,000 crore on road projects and Rs4,000 crore on other infrastructure projects, according to Ubale.
The group has been in talks with a clutch of investors for raising the fund, which will be managed by Tata Realty and Infrastructure Limited (TRIL), he added.
The company is expecting an average internal rate of return (IRR) of between 22 and 25 per cent for the projects it would undertake, though they would target higher return rates for its investors, said Kishore Saletore, chief financial officer, TRIL.
TRIL is investing in a 25-acre IT/ITeS special economic zone near Chennai, where they would build a large office space, a five star hotel and a convention centre for an investment of close to Rs3,800 crore.
The project is being constructed in collaboration with Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Development Corporation (TIDCO) and Indian Hotels Corporation, the hospitality arm of the Tata Group.
The company is also undertaking the four-laning of 110 km of the Mumbai-Hyderabad highway from 40 km outside at Pune. The project is being executed at a cost of Rs1,400 crore, of which Rs970 crore would be financed through debt, said a TRIL official.
TRIL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons.
Separately, the company will raise Rs1,400 crore in debt, said company officials.
