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IndiaCo To Raise $500m PE Fund To Focus On SMEs

By Madhav A Chanchani

  • 29 Sep 2009

IndiaCo Ventures Ltd, a listed investment firm, has launched a $500-million private equity fund, India Growth Opportunity Fund (IGOF), to invest across diverse sectors in the country.

IndiaCo has also recently roped in Brian Brown, former managing director with Citigroup Global Markets, and Mohit Burman, part of the Dabur India's Burman family, as non-executive independent directors.

‘’We aim to raise the fund in the next four-month period from the global investor community and invest in small and medium-sized companies in India over the next four years," said Rahul Patwardhan, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, IndiaCo Ventures Ltd.

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Brown, who raised $5 billion in new equity for Indian companies from 2005 to 2008, plans to help IndiaCo raise commitments from overseas investors. "Six months ago, you couldn't raise anything. But markets have now turned around. Lately, there have been some successful fund launches, especially for funds who have done it before," said Brown.

The fund will look at deal sizes between $10 million and $50 million. This would be a big step up for the Pune-based firm, whose deal sizes were in the range of Rs 2-10 crore. IndiaCo has invested in small companies such as Verity Technologies, Info Dynamic Telesystems and Laser Cosmetics.

The new fund is looking to invest in private and public-listed companies. Some of the sectors it may focus on include clean-tech, telecom services, defence and aerospace, precision manufacturing, healthcare and IT solutions.

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