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Singapore-based Standard Chartered Private Equity Advisory (India) Pvt. Ltd (SCPE) has deployed in India $115 million (Rs452 crore), or 16%, of the $700 million that it has spent from its current $1 billion pan-Asia fund. The amount invested in India excludes one undisclosed deal. The bank’s total investment in India, including from a $100 million local fund (the erstwhile Merlion India Fund in collaboration with Temasek Holdings Advisors Pvt. Ltd), stands at $222 million in five years. So far, the firm has invested $700 million of the pan-Asia fund, raised in 2002, across the region. Standard Chartered’s Mumbai-based private equity arm has been investing in the country since 2002, looking for companies that exploit India’s low-cost arbitrage, the growing domestic consumption and infrastructure. The India team was based in Singapore until 2005, when Nainesh Jaisingh, managing director, SCPE India, brought the team to Mumbai because the increasing competition required a local presence. Since then, SCPE has created a five-person team in India and done five deals from the pan-Asia fund. The most recent and largest disclosed deal closed last week: $50 million into genset manufacturer and power solutions provider Powerica Ltd. The firm has done three deals, totalling $107 million—ABG Shipyard Ltd, Sutherland Global Services and Punj Lloyd Ltd—from the erstwhile Merlion India Fund. The fund came up mid-2003 and was absorbed into SCPE’s operations in 2005. […]
Public sector Power Finance Corp. (PFC) is in talks with several US-based private equity players as it looks to recast the India Power Fund it floated in 2004 to invest in power projects. A senior PFC official, who did not wish to be named, as he is not authorized to speak on the subject, said the company was talking to funds such as Blackstone and Goldman Sachs among 8-10 others. The corporation spearheads the government’s investments in power projects. Launched in 2004, the original India Power Fund had an initial corpus of Rs200 crore and was expected to eventually expand to Rs7,000 crore. However, as not too many projects took off between 2004 and 2006, the fund has languished somewhat. The official said, “initially, we will be setting up a company to advise hydro and thermal power projects. And once all the stakeholders have decided what kind of investments are required, then we will decide on the fund size. At that time we will also bring in the domestic players.” PFC chairman V.K. Garg confirmed the company was talking to private equity players to raise an equity fund but declined to name any. He clarified the fund would be pure play equity investor in power projects that are set up during the 11th and 12th Plan periods. Under the 11th Plan, around 76,000MW of power generation projects are planned, which would require a mammoth investment of Rs10 trillion. ( Livemint) […]
Trikona Capital, a real estate fund management business, plans to raise $10bn (€7.1bn) over 10 years to invest in the India real estate and infrastructure sectors, as investment banks, hedge funds and others continue to pour billions into the emerging market. New York-based Trikona manages London -listed investment vehicle Trinity Capital, which raised about $500m in its London Stock Exchange debut in April 2006 for Indian acquisition targets. Ashesh Shah, head of Trikona's European office and global client services group, said the company has carried out 12 transactions from June 2006 to July 2007. He said: “We are the leaders in the space and are very committed to India.” Among its investments are: Pipavav Shipyard; a partnership with Lokhandwala Builders to develop residential housing in Mumbai; as well as a joint venture with Infrastructure Leasing & Finance Services to develop roads, ports and airports in India. It is also has an urban rejuvenation project to provide better housing to reduce the number of people living in slums. Private equity firms, hedge funds and banks seek high returns in emerging market investment and the Indian Government last year opened its property market to foreign investors. […]
Leading global private equity and venture capital company, 3i Group plc,said it has raised 500 million dollar with the closure of first phase of the 3i India Infrastructure Fund. The fund was established to apply the successful investment strategy of 3i's global infrastructure business to the rapidly-growing Indian infrastructure market. 3i has, as part of first close, committed a minimum of USD 250-million to the fund, with 3i Infrastructure Ltd committing USD 250 million. The Fund, which is targeting USD 1-billion in commitments, will create a balanced portfolio of investments spanning the asset lifecycle and is managed by 3i's infrastructure investment team, a release issued here today stated. The fund is the first to be established within the framework of the strategic partnership agreement announced by 3i and the India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) in April. […]
IL&FS Investment Managers Ltd is planning to launch its second realty fund. The first fund, IL&FS India Realty Fund, was floated in 2006 and raised $525 million. The money was invested in around 20 projects. Sources said the second realty fund would be “one-and-a-half times the size of the first fund”. The company didn’t give further details. IL&FS Investment Managers Ltd is the private equity investment arm of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. Along with Milestone Capital Advisors, the company recently launched a real estate investment fund to raise Rs 1,000 crore to invest in leased and rented properties. […]
In the rarified world of private equity, people speak of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company (KKR) with awe. One of the largest PE firms in the world, the firm has near mythic proportions, in large part because it seems to have access to an endless supply of funds that allow the company to buy into practically any asset in the world that catches its fancy. This year alone, the company announced acquisitions worth $123 billion. Sources say the firm now has plans to get into India. ''A few law firms, including us, have been sounded off by KKR to help set up operations in India,'' said the CEO of a New Delhi-based legal firm who did not wish to be named. Officials at KKR's offices in New York declined to comment. Last week though, a senior partner at KKR told TOI that ''Unlike in the West where private equity has acquired negative connotations, in India and other markets, it is viewed as a sexy business. We are looking at India closely.'' As things stand right now, KKR has made one investment in the country. The deal was completed last year when the company picked up the software business of Flextronics International for $900 million. The company has offices in Palo Alto, Singapore and operates predominantly out of Bangalore, For KKR, the investment in Flextronics was its second investment in Asia. KKR's current operations in Asia include recently opened offices in Hong Kong and Tokyo. The company is believed to be looking at China and Korea too as potential outposts to begin operations. […]
HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, plans to raise $500-600 million for an India-focused real estate fund, the Economic Times newspaper reported on Friday, citing sources close to the development. A spokeswoman for the bank in Mumbai could not comment immediately on the report. The newspaper quoted an industry source as saying that the bank was keen to get a slice of the real estate market in India although the fund would also make small investments in other sectors. India's property sector has been buzzing since early 2005, when rules on inbound investment in the construction industry were eased, prompting an influx of private equity funds such as those run by Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. Last month, the Carlyle Group said it hoped to seal its first property deal in India this year. In June, real estate developer DLF Ltd raised $2.3 billion from India's biggest-ever IPO, while Emaar MGF Land, in which Dubai's Emaar Properties holds about 40 percent, is awaiting the Indian market regulator's nod for its IPO, which may raise up to $1.5 billion. ( Reuters) […]
ICICI Bank is leveraging its size and international clout to grab a big chunk of private equity investments, by launching a fund of funds — the first by any Indian entity. The country’s second-largest bank, which has successfully sold the ICICI Bank story abroad by raising $11 billion through debt and equity during the current fiscal, is seeing an unsatiated appetite for Indian paper. Although the size is yet to be finalised, the bank is looking at eventually a multi-billion dollar fund to invest in other India-related funds — an area which has been the domain of multinational institutions. FoFs are essentially investor groups that invest in private equity funds in order to provide investors with a lower-risk product through exposure to a large number of investment vehicles across sectors and even geographies. It would also help investors to route investments in some funds, which could be closed to them. An ICICI Bank official confirmed the move, which is still in its early stages, adding that the fund will be launched by ICICI International Mauritius, a subsidiary of the bank. The Mauritius subsidiary is an investment and fund management company of the group. Both the $2 billion infrastructure fund, which is in the pipeline, and the fund of funds are being launched by the same entity. […]
Yes Bank Ltd has drawn up plans to launch four private equity (PE) funds, aggregating a corpus of $1.5 billion (Rs5,955 crore), in the next three years. The Rana Kapoor-backed private sector bank will raise a $500-750 million infrastructure fund, a real estate fund and distressed asset (special situations) fund of $350 million each, and a $150 million fund focused on socially responsible investments. The PE practice for these sectors comes under Somak Ghosh, president of corporate finance and development banking. Ghosh said that fundraising has not begun, but he is hiring and has brought in Vivek Mehra, former managing director of VC Tech Finance, the Indian finance arm of Austrian-owned VA Technologie AG Group which is now part of Siemens AG, as PE practice head. The bank is also working on three other funds, outside the $1.5 billion corpus, for life sciences, food and agriculture businesses, and SME growth/buyout deals. These funds will potentially have a $600 million aggregate corpus and are sponsored by other parts of the bank, although they may be rolled up into a single entity. […]
Beacon India Private Equity Fund started investing in July after entering India’s underserved $5-25 million (about Rs20-100 crore) deal segment one year ago. Beacon, which is sponsored by financial services firm Baer Capital Partners (UK) Ltd, has made two investments totalling $27 million and is about to close $32 million more from an initial corpus of more than $100 million. The firm is looking to raise another $100-150 million towards the end of the year that would be deployed over three years. Beacon’s strategy of doing smaller private equity (PE) deals is similar to others who also saw a gap in supply for established companies that needed less than $25 million. New Delhi-based Avigo Capital Partners does deal sizes of $3-$10 million. SAIF Partners is an example of a firm that serves smaller deal sizes within a range of $10-100 million. Deepak Shahdadpuri, managing director of Beacon India Advisors Pvt. Ltd, said they are also looking at a few deals between $1 million and $3 million. Similar to a venture capital (VC) investor, they are looking to invest in “the next big trend,” Shahdadpuri said, and are banking on finding proprietary deals. But they only back proven business models, which differentiates them from the VCs doing similar deal sizes. The fund heads, Shahdadpuri in Mumbai and Rajeev Thakore in New Delhi, have chosen this investment strategy for a reason. […]
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