IL&FS Investment Managers Ltd or IL&FS PE, one of the country’s largest home-grown private equity firms in terms of assets under management, has made first close of its new sector agnostic growth fund Tara India Fund IV at $40 million (Rs 250 crore), it has disclosed.
The firm is now targeting a final close of this fund by the end of this calendar year.
It did not say how much it is aiming to raise but previous media reports had pegged the size to be around $300-400 million. However, in an analyst call two years ago the firm had said it is eyeing a modest $75 million in this fund.
Its predecessor investment vehicle Tara India Fund III raised $225 million in 2008.
“With the market visibly improving and India emphasising its foothold as an emerged market, many investors have started evaluating India keenly for fresh investments. This is reflected in the domestic capital market which have received $16 billion in CY2014,†said Archana Hingorani, CEO of IIML.
IL&FS PE invests across three asset classes including real estate and infrastructure besides the sector agnostic growth funds.
Meanwhile, the PE firm recorded exits worth Rs 530 crore (nearly $85.5 million) across the three asset classes in the third quarter ended December 31, 2014, it said in a statement.
The PE fund manager had clocked exits worth Rs 177.5 crore ($28.9 million) in the second quarter ended September 30, 2014 and around Rs 306.5 crore ($49.9 million) in the first quarter ended June 30. This takes its total exit value in the first nine months to Rs 1,014 crore ($164 million).
This translates into over 25 per cent rise compared to the same period last year when it did just under Rs 800 crore in exits in the first nine months and has already exceeded the total exit value for the full year FY14.
In the third quarter ended on December 31, 2013, the company had struck exits worth Rs 209 crore ($33.3 million) which has more than doubled last quarter.
It did not disclose the names of the firms where it exited or part-exited last quarter.
The company's scrip last traded at Rs 18.10 a share, down 0.82 per cent on the BSE in a weak Mumbai market on Monday.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)