Mumbai-based IT solutions provider has raised Rs 100 crore ($20 million approx.) from a fund managed by Aditya Birla Capital Advisors, the private equity arm of Aditya Birla Financial Services Group. The deal also includes a partial exit for BanyanTree Growth Capital I, which was the first private equity firm to invest in the fast-growing company three years ago.
Trimax chairman and managing director Surya Prakash Madrecha confirmed the development when contacted by VCCircle. However, e-mail queries sent to Aditya Birla Capital CEO Bharat Banka and BanyanTree MD Sanjiv Singhal did not elicit immediate response.
The transaction includes an investment of Rs 75 crore through fresh issue of shares and the remaining through a secondary sale by BanyanTree Growth Capital I. The investment has been made from Rs 880 crore Aditya Birla Private Equity – Fund I. The fund has earlier made another investment in a BanyanTree portfolio company – GEI Industrial Systems Ltd.
Trimax filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the market regulator SEBI for a public offering in June last year. But with the markets remaining volatile, it has joined the league of other firms which have gone for PE funding to bridge the capital gap.
Trimax recently won the award for Best PE-backed IT Company at VCCircle Annual Awards 2012. The company offers systems integration, data centre and IT infrastructure management services.
BanyanTree Growth Capital had invested Rs 25.23 crore in Trimax in March 2009, through compulsorily convertible debentures which were converted into 12.52 per cent stake. The PE had plans to sell half of this stake in the IPO although it seems to have taken out its principal investment.
Trimax also raised Rs 45 crore from Zephyr Peacock India in September 2010 for 8.78 per cent stake. Zephyr’s investment valued the company at around Rs 470-480 crore, which was already giving BanyanTree a gain of 2.5x.
According to reports, Trimax was looking to raise between Rs 250-300 crore by selling 25 per cent in the IPO, which would value the company at Rs 1,000-1,200 crore.
The company had outlined a capex of Rs 200 crore in DRHP, which includes Rs 122 crore for the purchase of hardware and software over the next two years, Rs 24 crore to retire part of its loans and Rs 53 crore to purchase a new corporate office in Navi Mumbai.