IDFC PE invests Rs 400 cr in SE Forge

Mumbai, Sep 29: On Monday, Sep 29, SE Forge Limited (SE Forge), a subsidiary of Suzlon Energy Limited, announced that it has raised equity investment of Rs 400 crore from IDFC Private Equity (IDFC PE). SE Forge is setting up one of the largest foundry and forging capacities in the world to cater to the growing wind energy sector. The company has established two facilities -- a 120,000 MT foundry unit in Coimbatore and a 42,000 rings per annum ring-rolling forging facility in Vadodara.

The company in a release here said it intended to use the equity investment by IDFC PE to fund these greenfield capacities. The move is planned to establish a separate and independent identity of SE Forge for its customers, investors and allow the company to grow with a business plan to cater the needs of specialised components for the wind industry and also other sectors outside of wind energy with a dedicated professional management.

Tulsi Tanti, Director of SE Forge and Chairman of Suzlon Energy Limited, speaking on the occasion, said ''Suzlon has already established its strong presence in the wind turbine segment. The group has taken a conscious strategy a few years back to emerge as a dominant player in the components sector to cater to the sector and Suzlon's requirements. The acquisition of Hansen was a part of that strategy. The wind energy sector across the world is facing an acute shortage of high quality forging and casting components, with bearing supply becoming the biggest bottleneck the sector faces.

That is why we had decided to set up state-of-the art facilities catering to the highest standards of the global wind industry's requirement and of course our group companies will also benefit by getting access to high quality products closer to home. With IDFC's participation, SE Forge is set to grow into an industry powerhouse to meet the demands of a growing high-demand marketplace.'' The Board of Suzlon Energy has in a major decision late last week decided to go in for raising upto Rs 1,800 crore on rights issue.

The rate and the ratio of the issue would be decided by the Board again in three to four weeks time after the necessary approval was received from the regulators, Mr Tanti indicated to a private telvision channel today. He said that the Company had a strong order book position of over 1100 Mega Watt.

UNI