Gati Kausar India Ltd., the cold chain arm of Gati Ltd, is raising Rs 150 crore ($24.45 million) from funds managed by Mandala Capital Ltd, the company said on Thursday.
Mandela Capital invested Rs 30 crore in the form of equity shares and compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) and the remaining Rs 120 crore shall be invested in the form of non-convertible bonds (NCB), it said.
Gati Kausar is into cold chain transportation across user verticals such as healthcare, meat & poultry, bio-pharma, frozen & fresh produce, dairy products, organised retail and quick service restaurants. It is one of the largest refrigerated trucking networks in the country.
Earlier known as Kausar India Ltd, the firm was renamed as Gati Kausar India Ltd last year. Gati Kausar reported a total income of Rs 9.41 crore for Q2 FY15.
It will use the funding primarily for building a network of cold warehouses across the country over the next three years. It will also enable the company to offer integrated cold chain logistics and supply chain management, as well as value added services.
“The investment in Gati Kausar will give us the impetus to position ourselves as the end-to-end solution provider for the cold chain industry. We are confident that with the expansion in the cold warehouses across the country in the next three years, we will emerge leaders in this sector too," said Mahendra Agarwal, founder & CEO, Gati Ltd.
Mandala Capital manages a dedicated agribusiness private equity fund focused on investments in selected agricultural sectors including technology, seed, sugar, and cold storage, with a geographical focus on companies based in India or addressing the needs of the Indian market. The Mandala Agribusiness Fund is backed by University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO) and TIAA-CREF as its anchor investors.
Early this year it had backed Arcadia Biosciences, Inc., an agricultural biotechnology company.
Agri logistics and cold chain business has become red-hot with firms going public and others attracting PE, VC as well as strategic investors.
Most recently, Gateway Distriparks' cold chain unit Snowman Logistics Limited got listed; VC firm Aspada Investment committed over $2 million to Delhi-based fresh fruit supply chain company Allfresh Supply Management Pvt Ltd after backing Lawrencedale Agroprocessing India, a fresh vegetable supply chain company in 2013; Future Supply Chains, a privately held logistics firm of Kishore Biyani-led Future Group, is acquiring Delhi-based food logistics firm Brattle Foods Pvt Ltd; Temasek invested in Star Agriwarehousing and Collateral Management Limited.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
