Mauritius-registered, India focused private equity fundhas picked up a stake in structural engineering products company Krishna Saa Fabs Pvt Ltd for $7 million. The investment has come from the $200 million Industrial Growth Fund (IIGF) of Frontline Strategy Ltd, a Fabiani family office-anchored asset management company, headed by Atim Kabra. Tirupati-based Krishna Saa Fabs fabricates structural engineering products used in infrastructure support sectors of telecom, national highways, airports, and ship-building.
“Being an early mover, and having demonstrated the ability to supply large volumes of high quality products, Krishna Saa Fabs will be a key beneficiary of the fast-growing demand for finished steel products in the infrastructure sector,” said Atim Kabra, Managing Partner, Frontline Strategy.
The company was a major supplier of below-the-earth reinforcement support to L&T for the Bangalore Airport, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Principal, told VC Circle.
There has been quite a lot of funding activity in the real estate and infrastructure ancillary businesses. Only this week, AMP Capital Finance had invested invested $50 million in Gayatri Infra Ventures Ltd. Last month, Geodesic Techniques, a Banglore-based innovative design and civil engineering company, had raised $11 million from venture capital firms Mayfield Fund and SVB India Capital Partners. IIGF had itself made a similar investment in June this year where it picked up 26 per cent equity stake in Shriram SEPL Composites Pvt Ltd, a joint venture of Shriram EPC and Strategic Engineering Pvt Ltd.
There are also quite a few companies in this segment looking to dilute stake to private equity players. Pune-based Universal Construction Machinery and Equipment is talking to six private equity players to dilute a 20 per cent stake. Also India’s largest real estate developer DLF Group is planning to come up with $200 million fund to invest in companies engaged in construction activity and equipment management.
IIGF is Frontline Strategy’s second private equity fund, the first being Strategic Venture Fund (Mauritius) Limited (SVF), with total capital returns at over $85 million. IIGF is sponsored by Madrid-based non-resident Indian Harish Fabiani. Through different investment vehicles, the Fabiani family has invested over $750 million in India. Some of the notable investments are- Edelweiss Capital Ltd; Indiabulls Financial Services Ltd; Nimbus Communications
