Banyan Tree Capital Advisors has closed its first India focussed fund- Banyan Tree Growth Capital LLC at $100 million.
The Fund has been anchored by FMO and DEG, the development financial institutions of Netherlands and Germany respectively, it said in a statement. FMO - the Dutch development bank has also co-invested with the private equity fund in companies like Axiom Impex ltd- a synthetic rope manufacturer and Kalpena Industries, a manufacturer of PVC compounds.
The fund makes structured private equity investments in small and medium-sized enterprises. It has completed five investments in the past 18 months.
BanyanTree Finance, the India based advisors to the Fund, has a 6-person team based in Mumbai advising on investments in sectors across the Indian economy, with a focus on manufacturing and industrial businesses. It will essentially look to make growth equity investments into small and medium enterprises.
It recently invested $15 million in Deepak Fasteners Limited (DFL), a manufacturer of speciality industrial fasteners, for an undisclosed minority stake. It has also invested in a Mumbai based IT Infrastructure management services company Trimax IT Infrastructure & Services Ltd for a 10% stake.
Along with Dutch entrepreneurial development bank FMO, the fund also invested in synthetic rope manufacturer Axiom Impex ltd. The duo also invested in Kalpena Industries, a manufacturer of PVC compounds.
There are about more than two dozen funds in India on road for fund raising : IDFC real estate fund, ICICI offshore tranche, BTS cleantech fund, BCP Advisors, Peepul Capital, Everstone Capital, Blue River capital. Personality-led funds include Renuka Ramnath's Multiples Alternate Asset management, Subbu Subramaniam's MCap Advisors, Harsha Raghavan's Steer Capital while ex-Aureos team is also setting up its own fund and PR Srinivasan or PRS (former MD, CVCI) too are out to raise funds.
According to a recent report by Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (a non-profit, independent, global industry association for PE & VC investing in emerging markets), fund-raising for emerging markets-dedicated private equity funds slowed in 2009, but investment activity was comparatively strong. Emerging markets captured 9% of global private equity fundraising and 26% of global private equity investment, with deal activity by transaction volume down by only 11%.