Brookfield eyes Madhucon’s road assets; Sixth Sense plans second fund at $38 mn

By Keshav Sunkara

  • 26 Sep 2017
Credit: Thinkstock

Canadian alternative asset manager Brookfield Asset Management is in talks with Hyderabad-based Madhucon Projects Ltd to buy its road assets which are valued at Rs 2,000 crore, according to a media report.

Brookfield is planning to buy four-five toll road assets of Madhucon Projects and is conducting diligence on these assets, Mint reported citing two persons aware of the development. Most of these assets are located in Tamil Nadu, the report said.

Brookfield has been acquiring assets in the infrastructure space, especially in telecom, real estate and toll road segments.

In December 2016, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners inked the second-biggest private equity deal ever in India by buying the telecom tower business of Reliance Communications Ltd for Rs 11,000 ($1.6 billion) in cash.

In another development, consumer sector-focussed venture capital firm Sixth Sense Ventures is planning to launch its second fund with a corpus of Rs 250 crore (around $38 million) by October, Mint reported.

“We expect some global consumer companies apart from institutional investors and other existing high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) and family offices to invest for our second fund,” Nikhil Vora, founder of Sixth Sense Ventures, told the financial daily.

In June 2016, Sixth Sense Ventures made the final close of its first fund at Rs 125 crore against the original target of Rs 250 crore.

The first fund had invested in 10 companies, according to VCC Edge, the data research platform of News Corp VCCircle.

Its portfolio firms include Weddingz.in, an online marketplace for wedding venues and vendors; JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Pvt Ltd, an oral care products firm; and Grab, a Mumbai-based hyperlocal logistics service provider.

Meanwhile, Gurgaon-based developer BPTP Ltd has sold a 20-acre land parcel near Dwarka Expressway in New Delhi to Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate, Mint reported citing three persons aware of the development.

The transaction is worth over Rs 150 crore, the report said.

“Shapoorji Pallonji will build affordable homes under its Joyville brand on the land parcel. The residential project will be about 2 million sq ft in size,” the report quoted one of the persons as saying.

BPTP will use the sale proceeds to make final tranche of payments to investors JP Morgan and Apollo Global, according to the report.

In December 2015, BPTP agreed to buy back the stake held by JP Morgan and Apollo Global in the company for Rs 693 crore ($105 million) following a long-drawn arbitration battle.