MOPE invests in Fincare Small Finance Bank; True North makes part-exit

By Beena Parmar

  • 03 May 2021
Credit: 123RF..com

Motilal Oswal Private Equity (MOPE) has picked up a minority stake worth around Rs 185 crore ($25 million) in Fincare Small Finance Bank through a secondary deal.

The investment was made through India Business Excellence Fund – III (IBEF). This provides a partial exit to homegrown PE firm True North. The investor base of Fincare includes TA Associates, LeapFrog Investments and Tata Opportunities Fund.

MOPE is a subsidiary of diversified Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. It manages three growth capital funds -- IBEF, IBEF II and IBEF III -- focused on $15-50 million deals for mid-market companies across sectors.

MOPE is currently managing over Rs 7,500 crore ($1 billion) across growth capital and real estate funds.

The domestic PE firm finished raising capital for its third sector-agnostic fund at over Rs 2,300 crore ($320 million) in 2018.  

Investments from the third fund include those in MAS Financial Services, a non-bank lender based out of Gujarat; Mysuru-based N Ranga Rao & Sons, India's largest maker of incense sticks; Ludhiana-based Happy Forging Ltd; and Molbio Diagnostics Pvt Ltd.

In March 2021, MOPE exited Indian Energy Exchange Ltd (IEX) after five years.

Fincare, the Bengaluru-based microfinance institution-turned-small finance bank, started banking operations in July 2017.

Before converting into a small finance bank, the lender was largely conducting business from two entities – West India-based Disha Microfin and South India-based Future Financial Services under a single overarching management team.