Black Box To Raise Rs 410 Crore Via Preferential Issue

Essar Group's IT firm, Black Box Ltd., will raise up to Rs 410 crore through a preferential issue aimed at accelerating growth and expansion in the digital infrastructure sector.

The board on Friday approved plans including Rs 200 crore from existing promoters of the company, Rs 200 crore from marquee investors—including foreign institutional investors—and Rs 10 crore from the company's key management personnel, according to a statement.

The company's board, in a meeting, approved the issuance of 98,32,123 fully convertible warrants at Rs 417 per warrant, in one or more tranches, aggregating to Rs 410 crore.

After the conversion of warrants into equity, promoter shareholding will be marginally lower, from the existing 71.1% to 69.8%. Black Box continues to be Essar's key investment in the technology space, the company said in a statement.

The fresh capital will be invested across several key areas, spanning data centres, network infrastructure, research and development, and market expansion, it added.

The investment will support the company's strategic expansion and growth initiatives into key industry verticals with relevant technology solutions, key leadership hiring and expanding its sales and business development efforts significantly both in North America and emerging markets, the company said.

Black Box, listed on the Indian stock exchanges, has operations spread across 35 countries, but its major business comes from the US.

Shares of Black Box closed 4.99% higher at Rs 557.35 apiece, as compared to a 1.08% decline in the benchmark BSE Sensex.