Canada’s Sarona Asset Management has made fresh commitments into three funds – India’s VenturEast Fund III LP and two global financial services funds.
Sarona Frontier Markets Fund I LP has allocated $2 million to VenturEast Fund III LP, a private equity fund which invests in small and mid-market companies in India with focus on healthcare, clean technology and agri business sectors. The fund had also raised a commitment of $20 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) last year. VenturEast Fund will make minor investments between $5 million and $15 million in 15-18 companies.
VenturEast manages over $300 million in private equity and venture capital investments. Some of its recent investments include independent power producer Bharat Light & Power (BLP), Coimbatore-based VKS Farms and retailer Goli Vada Pav.
Also, MEDA Sarona Risk Capital Fund, another fund managed by Sarona, has invested in two vehicles focused on financial services at the bottom of the pyramid. It has committed $1.5 million to Women’s World Banking (WWB) Isis I LP Fund and $250,000 to MicroVest+ Plus Fund LP.
WWB’s Isis Fund will invest in microfinance institutions across the globe with a significant emphasis on servicing female clients or organisations being governed and managed by women. WWB aims to expand the economic assets, participation and power of low-income women by helping them access financial services, knowledge and markets.
The MicroVest+ Plus Fund will globally invest in low-income financial institutions (LIFIs), including those with microfinance offerings. MicroVest facilitates the flow of private capital to LIFIs to help build the capital markets serving the entrepreneurial poor at the base of the pyramid while providing market-rate returns to its investors.
Sarona Asset Management is based in Waterloo (Canada) and Amsterdam (The Netherlands). It is a co-founder and/or manager of numerous investment funds, including the Sarona and the MicroVest groups of funds. Together, these funds have over $180 million in assets under management in emerging and developing country markets across the world.
