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Venture Intelligence data spanning the last four years shows that the maximum inflow of funds occurred during the October-December quarter. This would imply that there are in-built incentives that propel PE investments during this season. May be, annual targets?But, PE players insist annual targets don’t drive them. They say investments are structured with respect to the return on investments and not any seasonality. Chrys Capital MD Sanjiv D Kaul called the pattern a mere co-incidence. Carlyle India head Shankar Narayanan said following a seasonal methodology to investments would be ‘suicidal’ for any PE investor. Mr Harish Fabiani, chairman of Americopr Group and a Madrid-based non-resident Indian who launched a $200-million India Industrial Growth Fund said there is simply no logic behind the pattern. […]
India-focused private equity and venture capital funds raised $7 billion (Rs 27,958 crore) in 2007, excluding real estate, last year. They had garnered a similar amount in the corresponding previous year, according to data from Venture Intelligence, a venture capital research company. Some noted VCs raised funds last year. Sequoia Capital notched up $300 million, Sandalwood Capital ($350 million), Matrix India Partners ($300 million), Helion Ventures ($210 million), VenturEast ($150 million) and Nexus India Capital ($100 million). […]
India has still not decided on regulations for sovereign wealth funds (SWF). However, existing provisions in the takeover code will be applicable to SWFs, according to Reserve Bank of India governor YV Reddy. The on-lending of foreign exchange reserves through IIFCL to Indian companies abroad will be treated as external commercial borrowings, Mr Reddy clarified. Globally, many countries have floated SWFs, which utilise a portion of their forex reserves to invest in a variety of assets in overseas markets to earn higher returns. Speaking at a session on ‘The Role of Government-owned Investment Vehicles in Global Capital Flows’ in the International Capital Markets and Emerging Markets Roundtable held in Washington DC on Monday, Mr Reddy said, “India has not yet considered regulatory initiatives, especially addressing SWFs. However, existing provisions regarding fit-and-proper or takeover code are applicable to all investors, including SWFs.” India is still at the stage of assessing the pros and cons of setting up an SWF. It is monitoring recent developments on enhancing transparency and disclosure in respect of hedge funds, private equity and SWFs, Mr Reddy said. […]
Mercatus Capital, a Singapore-headquartered angel investment fund, has closed its maiden investment in India by funding i-Flapp Technologies, a company founded by a group of Bangalore engineers with operations in Singapore. The fund hasn’t disclosed the quantum of investment but said that it typically invests $250,000 to $2 million dollars in each venture. In i-Flapp’s case, while the company will bring in technology expertise, the fund will help the start up gain a foothold in the commercial space. The engineers at i-Flapp have developed AppsD, a storage device that resembles a flash drive. The difference in this case is that instead of just files or images, the entire applications saved in a particular computer, can be loaded on to the AppsD. For example, an entire set of applications and settings on a desktop, such as Microsoft Outlook or Adobe can be saved in AppsD. […]
California-based venture capital firm Canaan Partners says it will invest $150 million (about Rs600 crore) in India over three years from its eighth fund, sized at $650 million and raised in January this year. The firm has fully committed its previous $450 million fund across 37 deals in India, Israel and the US. Canaan, an early-stage venture capital firm that manages nearly $2.4 billion and focuses on technology companies, now plans to hasten its investments in India. It focuses on sectors such as consumer Internet and wireless technologies, enterprise and managed services, and expects to announce its latest deal in a month. “We have no plans of investing out of our core sectors in India. We will invest in sectors where we feel we have the expertise, and can be utilized to gain maximum returns,” says the firm’s managing director Alok Mittal. In the US, Canaan invests nearly one-third of its corpus in health care technology. In India, the firm says it will not invest in the segment in the near future, but may revisit that stance later. […]
Kotak Private Equity Group (KPEG), part of the Kotak Investment Advisors Ltd (KIAL), has investing about $50 million in five unlisted life sciences Companies in India during the financial year 2008-09. Kotak's investment has been divided in Companies focused on clinical research, contract research and new drug delivery systems (NDDS). Apart from its life sciences fund (Kotak India Venture Fund 1) of $68 million, KIAL has raised two other funds of $160 million (India Growth Fund 1) and $415 million (Kotak India Growth Fund), with its cumulative fund under management is to the tune of $1.4 billion. It has also decided to raise $1 billion infrastructure fund during the financial year and will invest in sectors such as power and transportation. Nitin Deshmukh, CEO, private equity, KIAL, told FE, “Though the Companies where we wanted to invest are small, new molecules and drug delivery systems developed by them have high potential.” So far, KPEG has invested about $50 million in various small-sized life sciences Companies in India such as Metahelix Lifesciences Ltd, VLife Sciences Ltd, Indus Biotech and Rubicon Research by picking up 20-25% stake in each company. […]
The logistics arm of Future Group, Future Logistics Solutions Ltd, or FLSL, will raise $25 million (Rs10 crore) by selling stakes in the venture to private equity firms, the group’s chief Kishore Biyani said. “We are in talks with five Indian and foreign private equity companies and a deal is expected in a month,” said Anshuman Singh, chief executive of FLSL. “We have just entered the valuation phase,” he said, adding that the private equity companies are yet to figure out the actual valuation of the firm that takes care of most of Future Group’s logistical apparatus. How much stake it will off-load will depend on the final valuation, Singh said. Biyani has said in the past that he wants to raise money by selling stake in subsidiaries including Future Media India Ltd, and FLSL to fund the company’s retail plans. […]
The Principals of VGI DLC announced the launch of Vision Global Investments I, a U.S. $1 billion dollar India infrastructure-focused fund. The Fund brings a “force multiplier” to its investors through an experienced and skilled team of U.S.-based investment professionals, and practiced and highly knowledgeable India-based entities SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd. and Primadona Global Holdings WWL. With offices in New York, London, Delhi, and most recently Bahrain, as well as an advisory office in Mumbai, VGI I is the group’s initial offering. Vision Global Investment’s India Infrastructure Fund I will focus its investments on opportunities that directly contribute to the essential infrastructure improvements needed to support the country’s continued economic growth. The fund is seeking institutional class investors from the U.S., Europe and selectively from the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Japan where there is considerable interest in this asset class. […]
After gaining a foothold in the European market with the acquisition of German drug marketing firm AxiCorp GmbH in February, India’s Biocon Ltd now has set its sights on the US pharma distribution market with a deal valued at about $400 million (Rs1,595 crore). The Bangalore-based biotech firm has been scouting for an acquisition in the US that will sell its pharmaceutical products such as generics, biosimilars and biologics in the world’s largest drug market. “The deal, if signed, will be Biocon’s second and the largest overseas acquisition in the marketing space,” said a person familiar with the development who did not wish to be identified. “If everything goes smoothly…the company may even announce the deal along with its fourth quarter results on 22 April,” this person added. A Biocon spokesperson declined to comment as the firm is in the silent period ahead of the announcement of its quarterly results in keeping with the guidelines of stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). […]
Private equity deals appear to be back on track even as strategic acquirers seem to be holding back after the market meltdown in January dented corporate valuations. According to data for March, the number of PE deals jumped 20% compared to February, while strategic mergers and acquisitions (M&As) continued to shrink. As many as 34 PE deals were announced in March, compared to 28 in the previous month. While PE deals have picked up, large deals have dried out. Just one $100 million-plus deal was inked during the month against 7-8 such deals each during January and February, according to the latest deal tracker of advisory firm Grant Thorton. This is also reflected in the cumulative value of PE deals, which is down by almost half at $960 million, from $1.73 billion in February. The data collates the value of announced deals and would be higher than the actual PE fund flows as some transactions take time to close. The largest PE deal in March saw Singapore’s Orient Global Tamarind Fund picking 2.6% stake in Cairn India for $278.7 million. […]
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