Adia snaps stake in KRN Heat Exchangers in INR 3.5 bn institutional placement

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) has backed Rajasthan-based precision equipment manufacturer KRN Heat Exchangers’ qualified institutional placement, in which the firm raised INR 3.5 bn (USD 36.8 mn), as per an exchange filing.

The details: The firm allotted 3.3 mn shares at INR 1k apiece, nearly 5x its IPO price of INR 220 in October 2024. Adia acquired 236k shares — 7.2% of the placement — marking its first investment in the company. WhiteOak Capital emerged as the largest participant, accounting for 31.6% of the issue, followed by VQ FasterCap and ValueQuest.

Cooling infra warms up investors: Based in Rajasthan, KRN Heat manufactures fin-and-tube heat exchangers used in ACs, refrigeration, and industrial cooling systems — benefiting from rising demand for cooling equipment linked to data centers, manufacturing expansion, and climate-control infrastructure.

Why it matters: Gulf sovereign capital is eyeing specialized industrial and manufacturing assets linked to AI infrastructure. The latest investment fits within Adia’s push into the infrastructure layer underpinning the global AI buildout. The fund previously invested USD 500 mn in AlphaGen, a US power infrastructure portfolio of over 11 GW, specifically structured to support data centers, and took a stake in Landmark Dividend, a digital infrastructure real estate company with data centers across major US markets. For KRN, the capital raise buffs up its balance sheet and provides a cushion against volatility in key input costs, such as copper and aluminum, supporting future expansion without materially increasing leverage.