Moser Baer raises 411 cr from six global investors

New Delhi, Sep 4: Moser Baer India on Thursday, Sep 4 said its wholly-owned solar photovoltaic (PV) subsidiary has entered into agreements with a group of global investors to raise Rs 411 crore and might consider raising another Rs 200 crore by March-end to fund growth. The current capital infusion will dilute Moser Baer's stake in the unit by 6.5 per cent to 93.5 per cent. The consortium includes Nomura, CDC Group, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, IDFC and IDFC PE.

''The transaction now value Moser Baer's PV business at Rs 6,350 crore,'' Moser Baer Group Chief Financial Officer Yogesh Mathur told reporters.

Moser Baer will use the funds to expand its crystalline silicon cell manufacturing capacity to 180 MW from 80 MW and thin film capacity to 120 MW from 40 MW.

It has a planned capital expenditure of 400 million dollars for the current financial year to ramp up capacities.

In the next phase of expansion, it plans to add about 500 MW more of thin film capacity in a greenfield plant in Chennai.

Currently most of the photovoltaic unit's earnings are from exports. ''But with the state governments stressing on greater use of renewable sources of energy, the domestic market is growing significantly,'' Mr Mathur said.

For the year ended March 2008, photovoltaic unit posted a revenue of 42.2 million dollars, about 8.5 per cent of Moser Baer's total revenue.

Moser Baer, which had earlier raised Rs 400 crore for its photovoltaic unit in November 2007, is likely to list it in the next three years, he said.

''We clearly see this business to be able to tap both private and public markets. At an appropriate time, we will work on our plans to go to capital market,'' he said.

The photovoltaic business is currently valued at Rs 6,350 crore, he added.

UNI