The U.S. based asset management company, Guggenheim Partners LLC has announced its acquisition of private equity funds of funds business of Thomas Weisel in India. The details of the transaction have not been revealed. VCCircle was the August this year that Guggenheim has taken over Thomas Weisel's India fund of fund operations. Through this acquisition, Guggenheim and its affiliates will establish their presence in India, and assume the management of Thomas Weisel's India focussed private equity fund of funds, 'Thomas Weisel India Opportunity Fund'. The fund has raised $100 million and has a targeted corpus of $200 million. It has invested in funds of IDFC Private Equity and Peepul Capital.
An affiliate of Guggenheim has become the General Partner of Thomas Weisel's fund and the full time members of Thomas Weisel's management team led by K.V. Dhillon (India head) and Anand Sunderji ( head of private equity) will continue to remain actively involved in the fund, becoming a part of Guggenheim.
In a release issued from Guggenheim Partners, Dominic J. Curcio, President of Guggenheim Partners said, "We believe India's promising growth prospects makes for attractive business opportunities for our firm."
K.V. Dhillon, head of Thomas Weisel management team stated, "We are delighted to team up with Guggenheim, a firm that is committed to seeking out innovative and attractive investment opportunities for its clients."
Dhillon has been with Thomas Weisel Partners since 1998 and will be joined by all eight members of the investment advisory team currently advising the Fund.
Guggenheim is one of the largest asset managers in the world with assets under management of more than $100 billion. It has eight offices in the US including Chicago and New York, and outside the US in London, Dubai, Hong Kong, Geneva and Dublin. It offers services like asset management, investment advisory, capital markets, institutional finance, and merchant banking.
