UTI invests $10 mn in Shriram EPC

UTI Ventures has invested $10 million as growth capital in Shriram EPC, part of the $3 billion Shriram group.

This is the third investment that this company is getting after Chrys Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners invested around Rs 30 crore and Rs 100 crore, respectively, in recently. The valuations of this investment were not available.

The Shriram group, in addition to project engineering, has presence in sectors such as insurance, pharmaceuticals, property development and software development.

Shriram EPC operates in the high-end engineering services sector and provides a single point solution to engineering challenges. The company offers multi-disciplinary design, engineering, procurement, construction and project management services to sectors such as power, metallurgical, pipelines for water system and cooling towers.

This is the second investment in this sector for UTI Ventures after its investment in Consolidated Construction Consortium which is into urban infrastructure. UTI Ventures CEO Raja Kumar confirmed the deal and said and he would join the board of Shriram EPC shortly.

With more than 340 employees, including a strong team of over 200 engineers, Shriram EPC's main strength is its human resource in terms of knowledge and experience in process, mechanical, civil, structural, electrical engineering and process automation.

According to information available, Shriram EPC has a strong order book and has recently bagged orders from a marquee of companies. It recently won a Rs 55 crore order in the steel sector from Steel Authority of India Limited - Durgapur Steel plant for the coal dust injection system for the blast furnaces in consortium with SSIT + CISRI, China.

The same consortium also have got the Letter of acceptance in the tender for similar work for the blast furnaces at SAIL-Bokaro Steel Plant, with the contract valued at close to Rs 73 crore.

Besides these two in the steel sector, Shriram EPC has also bagged another order in consortium with CKD NOVE of Czechoslovakia for supply of Air and Oxygen turbo compressors for the Oxygen plant at SAIL Bokaro Steel Plant. The total contract value Rs 61.3 crore.

UTI Ventures has been investing from its Rs 700 crore fund and has been aggressive in the recent past. During November the company went on an overdrive investing a little over $30 million in three companies including Koutons Retail, VKL Spices and Laqshya, an outdoor media company.

This according to independent estimates is the highest number of deals any private equity fund invested in India during a month.