Homegrown private investment firm IndiaNivesh has marked the first close for its maiden turnaround fund, top executives said.
The Renaissance Fund has raised Rs 128 crore and has commitments for another Rs 40 crore, taking the total corpus at hand to Rs 168 crore.
The Renaissance Fund is looking for turnaround opportunities amongst small and medium enterprises, KK Rathi, founder and managing director at IndiaNivesh, said in a statement.
The fund is managed by IndiaNivesh First Bridge Fund Managers Pvt. Ltd. It is aiming for a total corpus of around Rs 900 crore and is targeting both domestic and offshore investors.
The target corpus is much larger than the firm’s first fund--IndiaNivesh Growth & Special Situations Fund--which was sized at Rs 150 crore and is now fully deployed, according to its website.
The firm said it has made two commitments worth Rs 68 crore from the new fund. It declined to elaborate.
The new fund will focus on mid-sized manufacturing and consumer-driven companies facing financial stress due to lack of working capital. It also seeks to identify under-performing businesses, the firm said.
Its average investment size is likely to be around Rs 50 crore. It will work with both listed and unlisted companies.
“We have reviewed and evaluated more than 80 investment proposals and have been able to create a good pipeline of investments,” Sridhar Ramachandran, chief investment officer at IndiaNivesh, said in the statement.
IndiaNivesh's previous investments include cybersecurity solutions startup Innefu Labs Pvt. Ltd, supply chain firm LEAP India Pvt. Ltd and kidswear company Nautinati. In January, it picked up a stake in facility management company CLR Facility Services.
IndiaNivesh joins other firms looking to invest in distressed assets. Asset Reconstruction Company of India Ltd (Arcil) is also contemplating launching a fund to make similar investments. The rising opportunity in the segment has attracted investors like US-based Avenue Capital picking up a stake in Arcil.
In August, Aditya Birla Capital Ltd and US fund manager Värde Partners decided to form a joint venture to invest in stressed assets across sectors in India.
Some of the global firms which have set up partnerships to invest in stressed assets in the country include Canadian pension funds Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec (CDPQ) and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). Alternative investment firms Bain Capital, Oaktree Capital, Brookfield Asset Management and JC Flowers & Co have also marked their presence in the segment.
