Kamdhenu Ispat today said it is in talks with private equity firms to raise up to Rs 100 crore for setting up a plant to produce raw material for its paints division and meeting working capital needs.
"We are in talks with private equity firms, both domestic and international, to raise up to Rs 100 crore for expanding the paints division. The deal is likely to happen in a couple of months from now," Kamdhenu Ispat's Chief Financial Officer Harish Agarwal told PTI.
Kamdhenu Ispat, which is mainly into manufacturing of TMT bars and structural steels for use in the construction sector, had forayed into the paints business in 2008 by setting up a plant near its steel mill at Bhiwadi in Rajasthan.
The paints division of the company has grown manifold in the last four years to record a revenue of Rs 158 crore last fiscal from just Rs 36 crore in 2008-09.
"We want to use the fund to meet the funding requirement for setting up an alkyd resin plant to reduce our reliance on external sources for raw material procurement," Agarwal said.
This apart, it intends to part-finance the proposed fund for meeting the working capital needs of the paints division, he said, without giving the likely deployment of funds for the setting up of the alkyd resin plant.
Under "Colour Dreamz" brand, Kamdhenu offers a complete range of decorative paint products. It has a network of 5,000 dealers and distributors operating across the country. It has 31 sales depots to facilitate timely delivery to customers.
The paints industry is estimated at Rs 21,000 crore in India. Organised sector accounts for around 70% of the total annual demand, Agarwal said, adding the share of decorative segment is almost 75% of the total demand.
Kamdhenu Ispat had recorded Rs 520 crore revenue last fiscal, majority of which came from steel business. Agarwal hopes company's revenue to go up to Rs 600 crore in current fiscal.
