New York, Nov 26: The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank group, will invest USD 15 million in USD 45 million foreign currency convertible bond issued by Ballarpur Industries Limited, India's largest producer of writing and printing paper.

This is IFC's first-ever bond of its kind in India.
The investment will help BILT Finance in its ongoing investment needs and transform itself into a world-class, environmentally compliant paper company that can compete in the domestic and international markets, IFC said.
The plans, it stated, include modernisation and expansion of production capacity, environmental improvement and expansion of the company's farm forestry programme.
"IFC's participation in this venture will help BILT strengthen its global competitiveness and deal proactively with the growing domestic demand for paper," said Richard Ranken, director of IFC's global manufacturing services department.
An existing IFC client, BILT was established in 1945 and is the flagship company of the LM Thapar group. It has an installed capacity of 340,000 tons of paper per annum and a pulping capacity of about 320,000 tons per annum.
"Our successful placement of FCCBs, together with the overwhelming response to our global depositary share issue, clearly reflects support for the company's business strategy on the part of discerning global investors," said Gautam Thapar, vice chairman and managing director of BILT.
"Participation in this important financing will strengthen our already long-standing partnerships with IFC and other international financial institutions," he added.
Bureau Report