MicroVest Capital Management, LLC, a US-based private equity fund, has closed its second fund MicroVest II, LP at $60 million. The fund received overwhelming response from institutional investors, who contributed around 80% of the fund corpus, the company said in a statement.
JP Morgan Securities Inc has acted as a placement agent for the fund raising process. One of JP Morgan affiliates is also a lead investor in the fund. The other investors in the fund include the International Finance Corporation (IFC), CARE USA, Kinnevick New Ventures AB, The Prudential Insurance Company of America, Christian Super Pyt Ltd, and Mennonite Economic Development Associates, added the statement.
MicroVest II, LP began investing in early 2009. The fund has made two investments so far. The first one was in India with an investment of an undisclosed sum in Grama Vidiyal Micro Finance Limited (GVMFL), a Tamil Nadu-based microfinance institution, in a $4.25 million round in June 2009. The second investment was in an MFI in Peru, as per details given in the company website.
The new fund promises support to the entrepreneurial poor by funding select microfinance institutions in emerging markets.
MicroVest I, LP, (MV I) which is the first fund of MicroVest Capital, has also invested Rs 20 crore in India recently as debt capital in Grameen Financial Services Pvt Ltd (Grameen Koota), a Bangalore-based microfinance entity in January 2010. As of September 30, 2009, the total assets of MV I stood at $37.7 million.
MicroVest currently has a total of $133.2 million in assets under management.
