UGRO Capital to raise ₹1,333 crore via CCDs and warrants

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The Board of Directors of UGRO Capital Ltd on Thursday approved raising of funds aggregating ₹1,333 crore through issue of compulsory convertible debentures (CCDs) and warrants, both of ₹10 face value, to existing and new institutional investors, and family offices and their affiliates, on a preferential basis.

The DataTech NBFC, which is focused on MSME lending, in a statement, said the capital raise (₹275 crore via CCDs and ₹1,058 crore via warrants) will ensure that the capital required for both the current year’s growth and next year’s growth is effectively locked in today.

The issue price for the CCDs is ₹264 per CCD. These debentures are convertible into / exchangeable for one equity share of face value of ₹10 each per CCD.

The issue price for the warrants is ₹264 per warrant, out of which 25 per cent of the price will be paid at the time of issuance and the remaining 75 per cent will be paid upon the exercise / conversion of the warrant.

Each warrant is convertible into / exchangeable for one equity share of face value of ₹10 each per warrant.

The CCD and warrant can be exercised at any time within a period of 18 months from the date of allotment of CCD and warrant, on such terms as agreed between the Company and investors.

The company said Samena Capital, one of its existing private equity investors, committed ₹500 crore through warrants.

In addition to institutional investor like Aregence, family offices of Arihant Patni, Ranjan Pai (Manipal Group), Karan Maheshwari (Samsonite), Atul Nishar (Hexaware), Chandrakant Morde (Morde Foods), Kiranben Kothari and Amar Kothari (Inter Gold – Rosy Blue India), Sid Mehta, Gauri Khan (Shahrukh Khan), Arun Juneja (Mankind Pharma), Anand Jain (Jai Corp) and Chartered Finance and Leasing Limited among others committed in CCD and Warrants., it added.

UGRO’s Founder and Managing Director (Shachindra Nath), board members and management team together committed ₹16.25 crore in warrants.

Nath said: “The capital raise marks a significant milestone in our journey. We have always wanted to create an institutionally owned, independently supervised and professionally managed FinTech in the listed world….”

This is the third capital raise by UGRO Capital in the last six years. In 2018, Nath acquired control of a small listed NBFC ‘Chokhani Securities Limited’ and simultaneously raised institutional equity capital of Rs 914 crore from TPG – NewQuest, PAG, ADV Capital, Samena Capital and other domestic family offices and public market investors.

Last year, the NBFC raised Rs 340.5 Crores. Of this, Rs 240 crore was garnered through preferential allotment to IFU (Investeringsfonden for Udviklingslande) via its Danish Sustainable Development Goals Investment Fund K/S. Additionally, Rs 100.5 crore was secured from long-term shareholders, including insurance companies, AIFs, and other financial institutions, through a Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP).