Baring Private Equity Asia's credit platform is planning to invest Rs 150 crore ($21.8 million) in listed firm Capital Trust Ltd, which provides enterprise and micro-finance loans to micro and small enterprises in India, a press statement said.
To do so, BPEA India Credit will subscribe to non-convertible debentures issued by Capital Trust, according to the press statement.
It has already invested Rs 75 crore in the first tranche.
“The funds received will fuel our growth and expansion, as well as enable us to provide easy access to other financial instruments for the unbanked population,” said Yogen Khosla, managing director of Capital Trust.
Capital Trust provides loans through its 250 branches in 10 states across north and east India.
Capital Trust’s assets under management stood at Rs 795 crore as on 31 March 2018, which grew 43% on an annual basis. It had made loan disbursements of Rs 645 crore in the year through March 2018.
Mid-market private equity firm Lighthouse Funds held around 17.27% stake in Capital Trust.
Hong Kong-based Baring PE Asia has over $11 billion of committed capital.
BPEA India Credit
Baring PE Asia had set up the credit platform in 2016 to explore the growing demand for debt among large and mid-sized Indian companies.
In the same year, BPEA India Credit took over Religare Credit Advisors LLP, a subsidiary of financial services company Religare Enterprises Ltd. This gave BPEA India Credit control over Religare Credit’s team members and maiden fund of Rs 512 crore.
In June 2017, VCCircle reported that BPEA India Credit had committed debt capital worth Rs 150 crore to some ongoing residential projects of Gurugram-based Vipul Group.
