InCred Asset Management, the wealth and asset management arm of InCred Financial Services Ltd, has marked the first close of its debut credit fund- InCred Credit Opportunities Fund I (ICOF I) to raise around Rs 300 crore.
The category II alternative investment fund’s (AIF) total corpus is targeted at Rs 500 crore, with a green-shoe of another Rs 500 crore, the company said in a statement.
The final close of the ICOF I, which marks the launch of InCred’s Alternatives platform, is expected by mid-next year.
The fund saw participation from marquee family offices and high-net-worth individuals (HNIs) crossing 60% subscription in the first close within three months of Sebi approval received in August this year.
ICOF I is the first alternatives offering from InCred Asset Management and will provide flexible secured debt financing to emerging corporates, as well as to financial institutions and platforms, the company said.
The strong demand for this yield-oriented fund has been driven by a differentiated fund strategy as well as a growing appetite amongst investors for high yield debt products as an effective diversification play with the backdrop of volatile equity markets, it further said.
The fund is expected to make 20-25 investments over the next 24-36 months, creating a portfolio with approximately 4-5% allocation to each transaction.
“We are targeting to invest in Series C and D stage unlisted companies with an average of around Rs 15-25 crore per deal investment. So far, we have funded around three investments in the consumer retail, EV (electric vehicle) and Fintech space over the past two weeks, said Saurabh Jhalaria, chief investment officer (CIO) - alternative credit strategies, InCred Alternatives.
He added, the fund has a pipeline of around 6-7 transactions over the next couple of months.
Jhalaria, who also heads the SME and education lending for InCred Financial Services, said, our aim to fund companies whose balance sheets have a working capital funding gap. "The fund’s investments will be all senior secured operating high-yield debt in companies across consumer retail, EV, fintech and SaaS (software-as-a-service) sectors," he further stated.
InCred Asset Management’s existing portfolio of strategies includes multi-cap, healthcare and India-manufacturing themed funds.
Jhalaria said that InCred Alternatives will launch follow-on series of the credit strategy as well new fund strategies going forward.
InCred Group is a diversified financial services firm with a presence in the areas of tech and analytics-based lending NBFC and InCred Capital which offers investment banking, wealth management, asset management, and institutional equities.
Founded in 2016 by Bhupinder Singh, InCred Finance is a tech-enabled lending institution that spans online and offline models across consumer, small businesses, and education lending.
In July this year, InCred and American private equity giant KKR completed the strategic merger of their retail and micro, small & medium enterprise (SME) lending businesses.
InCred Group’s equity investors include Investcorp, Oaks, Moore Capital, Elevar Equity and Paragon Partners. The Mumbai-based financial services firm also counts British-Indian businessman, investor and former Deutsche Bank chief Anshu Jain, Manipal Group chairman Ranjan Pai and founding chairman of Landmark Holdings (Dalmia Group) Gaurav Dalmia, among others, as its investors.