KKR arranges $141m loan in India's JSW Steel

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), via its non-banking finance company, has made an INR6.5 billion (€114million; $141 million) loan in the form of a structured credit deal to the JSW group of companies, a source has confirmed to sister news site PEI Asia.

The conglomerate, headed by India’s Jindal family, will use the capital infusion to help expand its steel producing interest, JSW Steel, the source stated.

The investment will be made in the form of a mixture of fixed income payments, equity and cash. According to the source, it is the second time KKR India has made such a hybrid investment, the first being a loan of INR5.5 billion given to the privately-held businesses of Indian entrepreneur Analjit Singh in 2009. JSW is expected to commence repayment in three years.

National Stock Exchange of India-listed JSW Steel, headed by businessman Sajjan Jindal, has been reporting landmark profits and expansions to its retail network since 2006. The company reported its highest ever net profit last month with INR 7.2 billion for the quarter and INR 20.2 billion for the financial year ended March 2010. At the time of writing, shares of JSW Steel were trading at INR 1049 per share.

KKR has invested more than $1.1 billion in India since 2006.

Last month, the global private equity firm injected $166 million in a cement-focused subsidiary of Dalmia Cement, marking the largest private equity investment in India’s cement industry and helping to form the largest private cement company in the country.

In March, a KKR-led consortium including Standard Chartered Private Equity and New Silk Route Partners invested INR9.6 billion in India’s Coffee Day Holdings, the operator of Café Coffee Day, India’s largest coffee house chain. 

KKR’s other Indian portfolio companies include Aricent (earlier known as Flextronics Software Systems); Bharti Infratel, a telecom tower company; and Max India, a multi-business corporate providing healthcare and life insurance services.