CLSA Capital Partners has invested Rs 55 crore ($ 9.2 million) in Gurgaon-based Luminous Water Technologies Pvt Ltd (LWT) through its two funds—ARIA Investment Partners IV LP and ARIA Investment Partners IV—for an undisclosed amount.
This is the second investment by CLSA Capital Partners in the SAR Group firm and the second investment in India in this year. In 2007, CLSA Capital Partners, picked up a minority stake in inverter and battery maker Luminous Power Technologies for $20 million and later exited with multi-bagger returns when the battery maker was acquired by Schneider.
Incorporated by Rakesh Malhotra in 2011, LWT is engaged in the design, manufacturing, distribution and servicing of water purifier and water filter systems for residential and commercial use. It operates through Livpure, a reverse osmosis (RO) water purifier brand launched last year.
The firm has a RO water purifier manufacturing facility at Gagret in Himachal Pradesh with a production capacity of 250,000 RO water purifiers a year.
“This is the first investment by ARIA IV in India and in Asia, continuing ARIA’s decade old track record of successful investing in leading consumer businesses in the region. We worked with the founders of Livpure in the past which ended in a successful trade sale. They have demonstrated the ability to scale up consumer businesses and they have a strong desire to take this business to the next level. We will help Livpure increase production capacity, build its brand and prepare it for its next phase of growth," said Miranda Tang, MD of the ARIA.
ARIA is a pan-Asian PE firm providing growth and expansion capital to mid-market firms in the region.
CLSA Capital Partners, the alternative asset management arm of the Asian brokerage and investment group CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, has nearly $2.6 billion assets under management and runs offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo.
Last year, it invested in three companies, including Earth Water Group, Equitas Holdings Pvt Ltd and Prajay Engineers Syndicate Ltd.
It invested $15 million in New Delhi-based Earth Water Group, which consists of three companies engaged in water and wastewater treatment projects, water and wastewater treatment components to OEMs and a knowledge and marketing platform for the water sector. This investment was from CLSA Capital's Clean Resources Asia Growth Fund, which has a mandate to invest in clean technology.
In the same space, last month, Capvent AG, the Zurich-headquartered fund of funds, acquired a 51 per cent stake in Chennai-based water treatment and purification firm Morf India Ltd for an undisclosed amount.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
