Eastgate Capital Group is picking up an equity stake in financial services company Avendus Capital Pvt Ltd for Rs 100 crore. Eastgate is the private equity subsidiary of NCB Capital, the investment banking arm of the National Commercial Bank (NCB) of Saudi Arabia.
Avendus Capital will use the fund to increase its presence in the institutional broking business.
Ranu Vohra, managing director and CEO of Avendus Capital, said the team at Eastgate will help the company build its global network of relationships, particularly in West Asia, which is increasingly becoming the source of capital for many Indian firms He, however, did not disclose the precise equity stake that will be picked up by Eastgate.
Avendus’ list of investors include Americorp Ventures and Anil Godhwani.
After the fund infusion, Rajiv Nakani, director of Eastgate, will join the board of Avendus Capital.
Nasr-Eddine Benaissa, co-managing partner of Eastgate Capital, said, “We believe India is one of the most attractive markets in the world and is well positioned to be a driving force in the global economy. Indian financial services and in particular investment banking and capital markets businesses will benefit from this momentum.”
Avendus, which has offices in Mumbai, Bangalore and New York, offers various services that include corporate advisory-mergers and acquisitions and private equity. It is also into institutional broking and equity capital markets.
It now has 85 members with 65 in investment banking and 20 in institutional broking.
Source: The Telegraph