Kohlberg Kravis Roberts buys 9-% stake in Avantha Power for Rs217 crore

Private equity firm and leveraged buyout specialist, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) has bought a 9 per cent stake in Avantha Power & Infrastructure Ltd (APIL) for Rs217 crore ($49 million) ahead of the utility's IPO, according to a today's report from The Economic Times.

APIL, a power generation company of the $4-billion Avantha Group and one of India's largest business conglomerates has 191 MW of operational thermal power capacity, 2,400 MW of generating capacity under various stages of implementation, and 1,320 MW of generating capacity under planning spread across India.

Citing an investment banker familiar with transaction, the paper reported that APIL has issued 6.4-crore equity shares at Rs34 per share to New York-based KKR, valuing the  company at Rs2,450 crore.

APIL is planning to raise around Rs1,250 crore through an initial public offering, and the company has filed papers with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India.

KKR, which has $54 billion funds under management, will have invested nearly $1 billion since 2009 in India having increased its stake in telecom software firm Aricent to 79 per cent for a reported $255 million in 2009 and invested Rs750 crores in May in Avnija, a wholly owned unlisted subsidiary of  Dalmia Cements (Bharat) Limited, (See: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts to invest Rs750 crores in Dalmia Cement's subsidiary)

In March 2010, a consortium led by KKR invested around Rs1,000 crore ($200 million) in Coffee Day Resorts.

According to various media reports KKR's non-banking finance company had in June 2010, provided a loan of Rs650 crore to the Sajjan Jindal group to help part-finance its Rs7,000 crore expansion plans in steel.

According to Thomson Reuters data, private equity firms have invested  $2.05 billion in the first half of this year compared to $964 million in the same period last year.