Private equity firm ICICI Venture, a unit of ICICI Bank , said on Friday it had reached a deal with Tishman Speyer to sell its stake in their Indian real estate joint venture to the U.S. firm. ICICI Venture said it will sell its 50 percent stake in TSI Ventures India Pvt Ltd, a real estate joint venture company, to Tishman Speyer, which will now become the sole owner. Tishman Speyer and ICICI Venture would remain equity partners in TSI's three current projects, the Indian firm said in a statement that did not give financial details of the transaction. "Both companies remain open to investing together in Indian real estate in the future," it said. (Reuters)   more »

TVS Shriram Growth Fund, a private equity fund floated by the TVS Group family and the Shriram Transport Finance group, has successfully raised Rs 500 crore. The Fund plans to invest the raised amount in the range of Rs 10 crore to Rs 50 crore in mid-cap companies with revenues of Rs 30 crore to Rs 250 crore. The fund intends to target investments in sectors such as food and agro, media and entertainment and privatized education. The fund would be looking at return of 20 per cent to 25 per cent after four years. The company has appointed Gopal Srinivasan, as Chairman of TVS Capital Funds.   more »

Jacob Ballas Capital India, a non-banking finance company focused on private equity advisory services, is planning a $500 million India-focused private equity fund. The NBFC, founded in 1995, currently serves as advisor to three India-focused PE funds in which New York Life is an active participant. Jacob Ballas was founded by Rajan Jetley, who was earlier the CEO of Air India and currently manages $445 million across three funds. When contacted, Srinivas Chidambaram, Managing Director of Jacob Ballas Capital India, said he cannot confirm, deny or comment on this as they are in process of raising the fund. The funds have been focusing on infrastructure, IT/BPO, textiles, pharmaceuticals and the financial services sector in India. The move by Jacob Ballas to raise a $500 million fund is backed by a strong pipeline of deals available in the Indian market given the losing lustre of the public markets.   more »

In keeping with its core business of venture capital funding, IFCI Venture Capital Funds Limited (IVCF), a subsidiary of IFCI on Monday announced the launch of three new funds aimed at the emerging sectors of the economy. The funds being launched are India Automotive Component Manufacturers Private Equity Fund with a target corpus of Euro 60 million or Rs 396 crores. It will be dedicated to investments mainly in Indian automotive component companies and other related sectors. The next one is the India Enterprise Development Fund (IEDF), with a target corpus of Rs 250 crores to invest in knowledge based projects in key sectors of the Indian economy with outstanding growth prospects.   more »

Canaan Partners, the 20-year-old global venture capital (VC) fund with $3 billion under management, will channel a bigger share of money from its latest global fund towards investments in the country. The investments would be mainly directed towards technology ventures, Canaan Partners India MD Alok Mittal said. The VC firm recently raised a $650-million global fund and about a quarter of it will be dedicated for investments in India and Israel. It is estimated that around $150 million will be invested in India over the next three years. Around 5-10% of its previous $450 million was dedicated to India and Israel. Canaan has invested in five companies in India—e4e, Bharatmatrimony, Cellcast, iYogi and TechTribe—since foraying into the country in 2000.   more »

San Francisco-based venture capital (VC) firm Walden International – better known for its investment in Bangalore-based IT firm Mindtree Consulting – is re-entering India after a five-year-long hiatus. It has appointed Rajesh Subramaniam, the erstwhile Chief Financial Officer of BPO firm Firstsource Solutions, as Managing Director (for India) – reflecting the increasing demand from the VC industry for senior officials with operational knowledge from diverse industries. Walden is looking at making sector agnostic ‘early to expansion stage’ investments in start-ups that have a scalable business model, Subramaniam told Business Line. “The growing pace of domestic consumption of products and services in India is prompting Walden to commit serious capital and time to India,” said Subramaniam. Founded in 1987, Walden has over $ 1.6 billion (Rs 672 crore) in committed capital.   more »

UK government-backed private equity emerging markets fund of funds manager CDC Group has made new commitments totalling $250m to three funds focused on infrastructure and real estate investment in India. The funds are expected to raise a total of $1.6bn for investment. CDC has committed $100m to both the IDFC India Infrastructure Fund and the Actis India Real Estate Fund. The IDFC fund will invest between $15m and $75m in infrastructure projects in the energy, transportation and telecoms sectors. The fund will be managed by IDFC Project Equity, a newly established subsidiary of IDFC.   more »

ICICI Venture Fund Management is planning to list its $1.5 billion real estate fund on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). According to sources, the fund house will be providing the flexibility in the document to list the realty fund anytime during its life span. When contacted, an official spokesperson for ICICI Ventures offered no comments. At present, the fund house is in the process of preparing the documents for both its real estate and private equity (PE) funds. This is the first time that the country's largest PE fund is providing this option in its fund. "Internationally, private equities look at listing their funds. If it's a close-ended fund, investors have to wait till its maturity. However, if the listing option is built into the document, then the PE fund can exercise it at any future date," said a senior executive of a large domestic PE fund.   more »

The already crowded venture capital industry in India got a new member with a team of investors led by Kanwal Rekhi, a Silicon Valley based entrepreneur and mentor, launching a US-India venture fund Inventus Capital Partners on Tuesday. With a corpus of $125 million, mainly raised from global institutional investors and the founding members, the venture fund aims at investing in at least 15-20 early-growth companies over the next three years. The VC firm intends to invest $1-10 million in companies in software product, services, Internet, mobile and other high growth technology sectors, in syndication with another venture firm. To start with, Inventus Capital has participated in a $3.5 million institutional round raised by a Silicon Valley based IT firm with its development centre in Bangalore. Inventus is leading the round with $2 million investment, an announcement to which will be made in few days, Rekhi told reporters in Bangalore. Besides, the company is in advance stage of talks with a Bangalore based firm for funding, which is expected to be in the range of $2-3 million.   more »

Franklin Templeton, the global financial powerhouse, has raised an India-focused, Rs 600-crore private equity (PE) fund. The fund is unique as it has been almost entirely raised from HNIs (high networth individuals) in India within two months flat. This is an indication of where HNIs are parking their money in a bearish stock market, where companies are struggling to pull their IPOs through. The fund, Franklin Templeton Private Equity Strategy, will focus on investing in unlisted companies in infrastructure services, manufacturing and consumer-driven sectors. While the company did not comment on the corpus of the fund, Vivek Kudva, president, Franklin Templeton Investments (India), said: "We had launched Franklin Templeton Private Equity Strategy in April for Indian investors, focusing on unlisted companies in infrastructure services, manufacturing and consumer-driven sectors."   more »