GEF Capital Partners (GEF), an India-focused clean energy private equity (PE) investor, has said it raised nearly $200 million (around Rs 1,520 crore) from marking the final closure of its South Asia Growth Fund II (SAGF II).
The amount was raised from a clutch of around eight global investors including CDC Group of UK, European Investment Bank, Dutch investment firm FMO, Proparco, Swedfund, BIO, International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private investment arm of the Word Bank and the US Development Finance Corporation, the firm said in a statement.
SAGF II was anchored by a large commercial asset management firm headquartered in Europe and builds on a $125 million (around Rs 950 crore) predecessor fund launched in 2008 that was led by key GEF team members, it said.
The growth equity-fund was launched in 2019 targeting climate-themed businesses in South Asia with a focus on India investment opportunities. SAGF II hit its first close in May last year after securing $130 million (approx. Rs 990 crore).
SAGF II had earlier targeted $150 million (around Rs 1,100 crore) but increased the proposed corpus size by a third after receiving a higher commitment from US investor International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), VCCircle reported in June 2020.
“GEF looks to invest capital in ways that operate effectively to improve the world around us, while supporting commercially attractive returns to its investors. In doing so, GEF seeks to partner with companies and management teams that are at the inflection point of growth and expansion,” said Raj Pai, one of the founders and Managing Partner at GEF Capital Partners.
The fund has already deployed over two-thirds of its commitments in Indian companies including Prince Pipes and Fittings Ltd through its initial public offering (IPO) in December 2019, SeedWorks, part of the hybrid climate-smart agricultural seeds sector and solar photovoltaic cell and module manufacturer Premier Energies.
Its other investments are Syrma SGS - design manufacturer of energy efficient electronic devices and components - and 3SC, a Gurugram based supply chain decarbonisation analytics and solutions provider.
“The climate sector presents an investment opportunity of more than $1 trillion in South Asia. GEF looks to build on the team’s strong track record of investing and providing attractive exits from the India portfolio of GEF and Global Environment Fund, which has built several billion-dollar companies, including ReNew Power, one of Asia’s largest renewable energy generation company and IEX, which is India’s largest energy exchange marketplace,” said Sridhar Narayan, also a founder and Managing Partner at GEF Capital Partners.
GEF Capital was spun out of US-based Global Environment Fund Capital Advisors in 2018, as an investment manager to develop Global Environment Fund’s mid-market and growth equity investment programmes in North America, South Asia and Latin America.
In particular, SAGF II will target a diverse set of companies along the resource efficiency supply chain with a focus on clean energy supply chain, energy efficiency technologies and services, efficient use of water resources and environmental products and services.