Black Box Limited secures Rs 410 crore funding for digital infrastructure expansion

Black Box remains a key investment in the technology space for Essar. After the conversion of warrants into equity, the promoter shareholding will be marginally lower, from the existing 71.1 per cent to 69.8 per cent.

“We are thrilled to have secured this capital, which will enable us to embark on an ambitious growth trajectory and enhance our digital infrastructure offerings and drive innovation in a rapidly evolving market,” said Sanjeev Verma, Chief Executive Officer of Black Box Limited in a statement.

Deepak Bansal, Chief Financial Officer of Black Box Limited, expressed gratitude to existing investors for their continued confidence and welcomed new investors as the company embarks on its next phase. He reiterated the company’s commitment to investing in growth areas while maintaining a sharp focus on operational efficiency and return on capital.

Over the past couple of years, the company has said to be focusing on improving margins through cost rationalization, leading to an increase in EBITDA and Profit after Tax (PAT).

In FY24, Black Box achieved an EBITDA of Rs 428 crore, a growth of 59 per cent over FY23, and a PAT of Rs 138 crores, which is 5.8 times the FY23 figure.

The raised capital will be invested across several key areas

With the exponential growth expected in data centre capacity over the next 3-5 years due to the adoption of Cloud and AI, Black Box plans to invest in the value chain providing expanded services to Hyperscalers, Multi-Tenant Data Centre operators, and Large Enterprise Data Centres.

Black Box also plans to deploy capital to expand its Solutions portfolio for enterprise customers and Data Centre operators, including Hyperscalers, in the areas of Connectivity Infrastructure and Networking, which will be critical to support increasing data traffic and demands for better user experience at the edge.

A portion of the funds will be allocated to innovation and development efforts aimed at digital infrastructure solutions, including cloud computing infrastructure, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and Internet of Things (IoT).

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