With Maruti, Bharti, HUL and Idea all beating the Street, the mood in corporate India, if not actually, upbeat, is certainly better than it was a few months ago. There is, however, some despondency that goes with the realisation that the core of the economy remains in deep trouble; from Larsen &Toubro to NTPC and Ultratech to Sesa Sterlite, large chunks of industry continue to find the going tough.

MUMBAI: L&T Infrastructure Finance is looking to raise roughly $1 billion in a private equity (PE) fund focused on investing in power, roads, ports and other projects, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said, with the sector set to pick up as the new government gets cracking on improving India's creaking facilities.

The infrastructure finance arm of engineering giant Larsen & Toubro resumed the fund-raising exercise after the general election and aims to finish by next year. The money is expected to be raised from domestic and foreign institutional investors.

Engineering major Larsen & Toubro’s (L&T’s) share price fell the most in a year on brokerage downgrades after the company’s dismal first quarter numbers. Shares of the company fell 7.32 per cent to Rs 1,542, a two-month low.

Citigroup downgraded L&T from ‘buy’ to ‘neutral’ and said that investors “need to curb their enthusiasm”. Despite today’s fall, shares of L&T are up 42% so far in 2014 compared to a 24% increase in the benchmark Sensex.

BSE Sensex fell over 61 points in early trade today on selling by funds and retail investors ahead of monthly expiry in the derivatives segment amidst lower-than expected corporate earnings by some firms.

The 30-share barometer, which had lost 280.62 points in the previous two sessions, moved down by another 61.40 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 25,929.83 with capital goods, realty, metal and healthcare stocks leading the fall.

Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has tanked nearly 8% to Rs 1,512 on National Stock Exchange after reporting the consolidated net profit of Rs 967 crore for the quarter ended June 2014 (Q1), mainly on account of one-time gain of Rs 249 crore on disinvestments and stake sale in one of its project.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 459 crore in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal and Rs 2,840 crore in March quarter.

L&T Technologies Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro (L&T), has unveiled plans to achieve revenue of $1 billion and be one of the world’s top technology service providers.

The company plans to achieve this target by focusing more on markets such as Japan, the Middle East and Korea as well as through acquisitions.

After establishing itself as an independent company earlier this year, L&T Technology Services, a fully-owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro (L&T), is set to explore inorganic growth.

Late last month, the Mumbai-headquartered company took a controlling stake in Thales Software India , a Chennai-based captive software arm of Thales, the French defence major. It has now set its sights on acquisitions in client countries.

Mumbai: L&T Infrastructure Finance Co. Ltd will venture into non-infrastructure segments and offer working capital loans as it transforms into the role of a wholesale lender, chief executive G. Krishnamurthy said.

The company is promoted by L&T Finance Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Ltd, India’s largest engineering company.

Even as most of its competitors were struggling, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) exited 2013-14 with fresh orders worth Rs 94,100 crore, up 15 per cent compared to the previous year. A third of these orders were from abroad, in line with the company's strategy to globalise and de-risk its business model.

While the company has been working on this strategy for about a decade, after it missed out to US and Korean rivals during the boom in the Gulf, it is now playing catch-up by setting up a strong base there.

Conglomerates are sometimes referred to as “corporate chaos” because of the complex web of businesses they manage. Shares of these companies tend to trade at a discount compared to standalone businesses, as investors find it difficult to gauge a fair value of the diverse businesses these behemoths house. India’s engineering and construction giant Larsen & Toubro has found itself at the receiving end of some very tough questions for these very reasons as investors believe it has spread itself too thin.

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