FINO announces closing of equilty placement

Mumbai, May 28, (UNI) Mumbai-based Financial Information Network and Operations Ltd. (FINO), biometric enabled smart card solutions provider, today announced the closing of an equity financing round of Rs 800 million.

The investors are broadly divided between private sector banks, public sector banks and international investors.

Private sector equity investors include ICICI Bank, ICICI Lombard and IFMR Trust. Public Sector equity investors include LIC, Union Bank of India, Corporation Bank and Indian Bank. International investors are represented by IFC, a private sector arm of the World Bank Group, Legatum Finance and Intel Capital, the strategic investment arm of Intel Corporation.

FINO intends to use the proceeds from the financing to set up the entire end-to-end solution of doing financial transaction at clients' doorsteps.

In a statement, FINO, CEO Mr Manish Khera, said that,'' This equity placement is an important substantiation of our strategy to make FINO a sectoral entity and reflects endorsements from key customers, thereby improving financial strength of FINO. We hope to be guided by the vast experience each one of our shareholder brings and leverage our company's robust equity base to build strong brand equity together with the strong and familiar brand(s) of our shareholders. This association will enable FINO to deliver scaleable low cost solutions to our clients which makes us ideally positioned for continued long-term growth''.

FINO will invest in three broad classes of projects, those that are complete, those in the development stage and those in the planning stage. These investments will be utilized in garnering a solid base and creating a clear growth roadmap for the company.

CFO&President Sales&Marketing, Mr. Rishi Gupta FINO stated that ''As we expand our horizons of scaling new heights&serving many more unbanked geographies this infusion of capital will enable our company to rapidly position our assets in those markets where growth opportunities are most robust. About 75 per cent of the investment will be contributed towards IT and IT enabled services and about 25 per cent in assorted development.

UNI