Aditya Birla Capital Advisors (ABCAP), the investment managers for Aditya Birla Private Equity, has announced the first closing of Aditya Birla Private Equity - Fund I at Rs 675 crore. The fund, which has raised a significant portion from domestic high networth individuals and institutional investors, has exceeded its initial target of Rs 500 crore.
The Fund opened for subscriptions from domestic rupee investors in July 2009. A press statement said, the fund received an "exceptional" response from Indian investors despite the uncertain market environment for fund-raising last year.
The fund will continue to accept contributions for a limited period for its second and final closing shortly.
Aditya Birla Private Equity Fund I is a growth capital-focused fund which will take minority stakes in unlisted, mid-market, high-growth, India-centric companies, and will follow a sector-agnostic approach.
The sector preferences of the fund include infrastructure enablers, logistics, healthcare, education and hospitality besides themes on domestic Indian consumption. It expects to be in investment mode for major part of 2010 and has already identified certain deals for investment.
Aditya Birla PE has been warehousing the group’s anchor investment till now. The private equity arm has been investing out of the capital committed by the parent. It has picked up a minority stake in Bombay Stock Exchange, one of the oldest in the world, through its newly formed private equity arm.
The deal was done during the demutualisation process of BSE. Besides this, the fund also picked up 26% in apparel retail chain V Mart last year. Another investment is a 5% stake in IT solutions provider Core Projects & Technologies for Rs 13.5 crore.
