JK Paper Lines Up Rs 650 Crore For Investment, Capex

JK Paper Ltd (JKPL) has lined up an investment of around $100 million (Rs 650 crore), part of which will be accounted for by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) putting in around $50 million.

JKPL is a leading Indian producer of office paper, packaging boards, printing and writing paper, and specialty paper. However, JKPL could not be reached for comments.

The proposed project entails capacity expansion and efficiency improvement, capital expenditures at the two existing plants, and debt refinancing.

The IFC’s investment aims at improving the company’s productivity and restructuring its balance sheet.

The proposed IFC investment is in the form of secured non-convertible debentures (NCDs) of up to Rs 325 crore ($50 million equivalent). The project locations are the company’s two plants in Odisha and Gujarat. The project will support the company’s efforts to make its plants more energy-efficient by reducing the usage of water and coal.

In addition, the project supports the company, which now plants more trees than it fells. JK Paper has two integrated pulp and paper facilities: The Central Pulp Mill (CPM), located at Fort Songadh near Surat in Gujarat, and the JK Paper Mill (JKPM), near Rayagada in Odisha.

The current production capacity at the CPM is 160,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of paper and paper board. The JKPM has a capacity of 295,000 tpa of paper.