Mumbai-based Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd said Monday it is looking to sell a minority stake in its alternative assets arm.
The financial services group is aiming to raise Rs 1,500-2,000 crore ($180-240 million) by offloading a 10-20% stake in Edelweiss Alternatives Asset Advisors, it said in an exchange filing.
Edelweiss said it has started the stake sale process and expects to conclude it in the next four to five months. “We are receiving significant interest,” the company said.
According to the statement, the minority stake sale will enable debt reduction and establish market value of the business.
Edelweiss Financial's shares were trading at a discount of 1.3% at Rs 75 apiece in Monday’s mid-day trade on the BSE.
Edelweiss Alternative currently handles over $5.9 billion in assets under management. It manages performing credit (corporate and real estate), special situations and infrastructure yield funds.
The company specialises in private debt in India, with more than a decade of investing in the asset class. It launched its first $230 million (Rs 1,000 crore) private debt fund in 2010.
EAAA’s assets under management have grown by 17% annually since FY17. In the last quarter, it had an AUM of Rs 50,000 crore.
Earlier, in October, it said it has raised $1 billion for its third special situations fund, with a few deals already concluded. Previously, in September, it floated a climate-focussed fund, which will strike bets in the cleantech and climate sectors to invest in projects ranging from climate mitigation to climate adaptation. The fund has a corpus of $500 million.
The company counts investors like global pension funds, insurance companies across US, Canada, Europe, Australia, besides domestic institutions and endowments, family offices, high net worth individuals as limited partners in its funds.
