New Delhi-based realty funding company Red Fort Capital Advisors Pvt Ltd will float a Rs 800 crore fund to finance real estate development projects in India. “The corpus will be mobilised from high net-worth individuals and corporates within India,” Parry Singh, director of the company, told the media here. According to him, the money will be raised by the end of this month and investments out of it will be made from March. Meanwhile, the company has invested around $300 million out of its $400-million fund called Red Fort India Real Estate Fund I, which raised money through foreign direct investments. The company has invested in three projects in Bangalore and in a township project in Hyderabad.The company has also bought 10 acres in Chennai for an undisclosed sum. While the company has decided to build residential apartments here for the middle-income group, it is yet to zero in on a developer. It plans to invest around $100 million in the Chennai market. […]

Private investment firm Sage Capital Advisors Pvt. Ltd plans to form a joint venture (JV) with a financial services group to launch a private equity (PE) fund or its own fund, an official said on Wednesday. “We are exploring a JV with a large financial services group as the platform will allow us to get quality investors,” said managing director Manish Kanchan, adding that Sage would hold a majority stake in the planned venture. “We can even raise up to $1 billion (Rs3,940 crore) through this JV.” Kanchan said the name of the partner and other details would be announced in a month’s time. He also said the firm is talking with potential investors to launch a PE fund of around $200-250 million if the JV falls through. PE investment in India is expected to touch about $10 billion in 2007. Investment had more than tripled to $7.46 billion in 2006, from $2.26 billion in 2005. […]

IDFC Private Equity, the private equity investment arm of infrastructure financing firm Infrastructure Development Finance Co. Ltd (IDFC), is raising a $600 million (Rs2,364 crore) fund, its third since it set up operations as the country’s first pure play infrastructure PE investor in 2002. The proposed fund has an upper limit of $700 million on the final corpus and is expected to close fund-raising in March 2008, said a person familiar with the development who did not wish to be named. The firm’s president & CEO Luis Miranda declined to comment. The third fund from IDFC PE comes at a time when pure play infrastructure funds (ones that do not invest in real estate), backed both by domestic and overseas investors, have become popular in the country. In October, UK’s 3i Group Plc. raised $500 million in the first close of its proposed $1 billion 3i India Infrastructure Fund. The fund has already invested $328 million across two deals—Soma Enterprise Ltd and Adani Power Pvt. Ltd. Separately, IDFC PE’s parent, the state-owned IDFC is itself in the process of closing first-round commitments for a mega $5 billion mega infrastructure fund, which includes debt and equity. Co-investors in this fund include Blackstone Group, Citigroup Inc. and the ministry of finance-backed India Infrastructure Finance Co. (IIFC). […]

ICICI Venture is planning to float a company that will buy medium-sized hospitals and pharmacy chains and act as a holding company for the fund’s investments in the booming healthcare sector. India’s largest domestic PE fund has already decided to allocate $250 million to the holding company, which will be set up over the next one month. Temporarily called I-Ven Medicare, the company will be the lead vehicle for all ICICI Venture’s investments, buyouts in the healthcare space, Renuka Ramnath, CEO and MD of the fund, told ET. ICICI Venture is in talks with four hospitals in different parts of the country for a complete buyout. They are also examining proposals from other small and medium-sized hospitals across the country who need funds. India’s healthcare sector has boomed in recent years. A CII-McKinsey study estimated that India will spend $45.6 billion on health in the next five years. […]

The Iceland-based investment bank, Askar Capital on Tuesday said it has plans to float a $500 million private equity (PE) fund with Nikhil Gandhi-promoted Sea King Infrastructure (SKIL). Both Askar Capital and SKIL will hold 50% stake each in the fund. Askar Capital, CEO, Tryggvi Herbertsson, said the fund would capitalise on a diverse and exciting range of investment opportunities in India and the wider South-East Asian Region. Both firms will contribute to managing private equity investments. The private equity platform will operate within a multi-sector framework, looking to aggressively commit capital in particular to small-and medium-sized enterprises. Both Askar Capital and SKIL have already identified a healthy pipeline of investment opportunities in the region. “Private equity is a core business area for Askar Capital globally. Our investment strategy in India will primarily be in the domain of real estate, infrastructure and private equity. Our fund with the SKIL group is a step to move in this direction. The setting up of this private equity platform in India is another important step for us in growing our business in this region,” Mr Herbertsson said. […]