CX Partners, the private equity firm floated by former head of Citigroup Venture Capital International (CVCI) Ajay Relan, has made its final close at $515 million, reports PEIAsia.
CX Partners fund was launched in August 2008 with a target corpus of $500-600 million. It made its first close at $220 million in May 2009.
CX Partners is focused on providing growth equity capital to mid-market companies in India, and has already made two investments so far starting April this year.
It made its debut by investing about Rs 150 crore in Monnet Ispat & Energy Ltd, a Chattisgarh-based iron manufacturer. The fund has acquired around 8% stake in the company in an open market transaction. The second investment of the fund was in Convexity Solutions, a venture launched by former Reliance Money honcho Sudip Bandyopadhyay. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Relan has two other partners in the fund - former CVCI colleague Jayanta Basu and Amit Bhatiani, who was with New York-based hedge fund Duma Capital. As head of CVC India, Relan led the team that invested and managed over $1 billion in approximately 40 Indian companies during 2001-2008.
CX Partners fund close follows the successful first close of Renuka Ramnath’s Multiples at $250 million last month. In recent past, the PE industry has witnessed the movement of lot of veterans who have gone solo with their ventures. For instance, Baring PE honcho Subbu Subramaniam left the firm to form his own fund MCap Advisors, while Rajesh Khanna of Warburg Pincus also left the firm to pursue his dream in the PE space.
