Mauritius-based private equity fund, India 2020, plans to invest up to USD 50 mn in around five to six rapidly-growing and mainly unlisted companies by this year-end, a top company official said.
The Rs 500 crore India 2020 fund is sponsored by Lighthouse Funds, a global private equity firm with operations in the US and India.
“We are in talks with several growth-stage companies and are confident of sealing about half-a-dozen deals by this year-end. The cumulative investment will be around USD 50 million,” Lighthouse's Managing Partner, Mukund Krishnaswami said.
The fund focuses on rapidly-expanding small and medium-sized companies.
“We will be investing across sectors such as financial services, education, logistics, light manufacturing and food processing companies. Our investments will mostly be in unlisted companies,” Krishnaswami said.
The private equity major has already sealed six deals so far cumulatively worth Rs 100 crore. The six companies it has invested in are Arihant Domestic Appliances, Imperial Spirits, Obelia Hotels (Beacon Hotels and Resorts), Shaily Engineering Plastics, Unibic Biscuits India and Words Infocomm.
“We have also done two follow-on investments in Imperial Spirits and Unibic Biscuits India,” Krishnaswami said.
Investments will be made in companies typically with a turnover in the range of Rs 20-100 crore and growing at a rapid pace of 50-100 per cent YoY, he said.
Source: Economic Times