United Arab Emirates based NBD Sana Capital has raised $170 millon as
first close of its buyout fund and is eyeing buyout opportunities in India. "We are looking at a few very attractive deal opportunities, particularly in
Turkey and India," said Suresh Kumar, group director at Emirates NBD,
reports Bloomberg.
NBD Sana Capital is the private equity arm of UAE's Emirates NBD PJSC.
The fund plans to have a final close of $500 million, after having a
second close of $250 million in 2009.
NBD Sana focuses on sectors - telecommunications, media and technology
(TMT); energy; healthcare; pharmaceuticals; and also retail. The funds
also plans to invest in Middle East, North Africa and Turkey. Another
Gulf based fund looking to invest in India is Dubai-based Millennium
Finance Corporation (MFC), which is raising a cleantech and a real
estate fund of $200 million each.
Several Gulf based funds are now eyeing investment opportunities in
India as west moves into a prolonged recession. While traditionally
investments by Gulf based funds were primarily in Indian real estate,
these funds are now looking at opportunities in sectors like cleantech
and TMT.