Fidelity Growth Partners India has announced a re-branding exercise for its private equity investments. The firm will now be called Eight Roads Ventures, a top executive told VCCircle.
This re-branding exercise is part of a global transition for Fidelity International Ltd's (FIL) direct investment arm which goes by country specific names such as Fidelity Growth Partners Japan, Fidelity Growth Partners Asia, Fidelity Biosciences, Fidelity Growth Partners Europe or Moonray Investors in the UK to Eight Roads in the coming months.
“As we are making investments globally and some of our companies are going public, there was a confusion in the marketplace that is it the principal investing arm or third party fund management? Hence, we decided to introduce a distinct brand,†says Raj Dugar, senior managing director at Eight Roads Ventures.
“We were globally operating under different brand names, logos and hence the decision to harmonize this across our geographies and introduce a distinct identity. Apart from this, nothing has changed. Our source of capital, which is FIL, has not changed,†he said.
Eight Roads will remain an investment arm of Fidelity International Ltd. “This will remain the balance sheet money of FIL,†Dugar said. The number ‘Eight’ stands for prosperity in many Asian cultures and ‘Roads’ symbolises investments as a long journey with the logo of infinity defining long duration and patient capital.
Eight Roads will continue to look at venture and principal investing as well as real estate globally. The investments in India include companies like construction firm Coastal Projects, communication equipment manufacturer VMC Systems, healthcare equipment manufacturer Trivitron Healthcare Pvt Ltd, heavy electrical equipment manufacturer Shreem Electric and dairy products supplier Milk Mantra Dairy Pvt Ltd.
The company expects to make at least 10 fresh investments in the country this year with a focus on healthcare, technology and consumer sectors. “Any sector that is exposed to leverage, we would avoid for now,†Dugar said. The firm's latest investment was in enterprise contract management software provider Icertis Inc.
FIL has two businesses, one is the direct investing arm which is now Eight Roads and the other will continue to be the third party managed investments from FIL as a foreign institutional investor.
Through its direct investments route, the firm has invested in more than 20 companies in the country with an average investment size of $30 million. In July, the firm invested in pharmaceutical firm Cipla Ltd's consumer healthcare business. “We partnered with Cipla to make a brand new OTC business to bring out new consumer healthcare products,†Dugar said.
With this new partnership, Cipla will create a new subsidiary called Cipla Health. The new venture will build out Cipla's healthcare and consumer OTC business.