Private equity firm Aureos Capital has said today that it has made a partial exit by selling some of its stake in Continental Warehousing Corporation (Nhava Sheva) Ltd to Warburg Pincus. In April this year, Warburg Pincus had said that it was investing $100 million in the Chennai-based logistics firm, part of which would be used to buy out existing investors.
Besides Aureos, Continental Warehousing Corp (Nhava Sheva) had also raised private equity funding from IL&FS Investment Managers Ltd (IIML) and ePlanet Venture in 2006 and 2009, respectively. While IL&FS has exited the firm completely, ePlanet has also made a partial exit from its investment.
Part of the NDR group, Continental Warehousing Corp (Nhava Seva) operates container freight stations (CFS) at the Nhava Sheva port, which was commissioned in January, 2006. Developed in two phases, the present CFS is set up on a total area of 36 acres, with handling capacity of 1.50 lakh TEUs per annum. The total enclosed area comprises three warehouses measuring 2,65,000 sq. ft.
The company also operates CFS in Chennai and Tuticorin. During the first nine months of FY11, Continental Warehousing Corp (Nhava Sheva) has registered an income of Rs 92.76 crore and a profit after tax of Rs 24.30 crore.
IL&FS Investment Managers Ltd had invested $7 million in Continental Warehousing Corp (Nhava Sheva) in 2006. Aureos India Fund and ePlanet Venture had later co-invested $16 million in the company in August, 2009.
Several private equity firms have made exits from their investments through secondary transactions over the last few months. Only last month, India Value Fund had exited Kochi-based SFO Technologies when it raised $37.5 million from three PE firms – Franklin Templeton Private Equity Strategy, IL&FS Investment Managers Ltd and Asia Mezzanine Capital Group.
Another prominent exit came when Mount Kellett Capital, TVS Shriram Growth Fund and IndiaVenture Advisors invested Rs 410 crore in pharma chain MedPlus, buying the stakes held by Peepul Capital, NEA IndoUS Ventures and Arcapita.