Infrastructure Development May Buy 26 Percent of IFCI
Infrastructure Development May Buy 26 Percent of IFCI
Infrastructure Development Finance Co., an Indian investor in public works, is interested in IFCI Ltd., competing with Blackstone Group LP and General Electric Capital Corp. for a stake in the state-run project financier.
“We are busy doing the due diligence,” Infrastructure Development Chief Executive Officer Rajiv Lall said in an interview in Mumbai today. “We have yet to decide.”
The winner of the 26 percent IFCI stake will gain access to a market where lending grew 28 percent last year, and where the central bank limits foreign banks’ ownership of local private rivals to 5 percent. IFCI, bailed out by the government in 2003 because of bad debts, in July announced plans to sell a stake to a local or overseas investor to bolster its capital.
Other bidders including a group led by billionaire Wilbur Ross and comprising Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Standard Chartered Plc and India’s Housing Development Finance Corp., are vying with Cargill Financial Services Corp., Natixis SA and Newbridge Asia for the stake, IFCI said last month.
IFCI, the best-performing stock on the BSE500 Index this year, will finance some of the $475 billion of roads, ports and power stations the government wants built by 2012. The potential returns in India spurred Blackstone, Citigroup Inc. and 3i Group Plc to start infrastructure funds this year.
Infrastructure Development is partnering Blackstone and Citigroup for a $5 billion infrastructure fund in India.
