The Oman India Joint Investment Fund is targeting to make the first close of its second fund in the first quarter of 2016, The Economic Times reported on Monday citing its CEO Srinath Srinivasan.
The private equity firm sponsored by Oman’s sovereign wealth fund, State General Reserve Fund, and top Indian lender State Bank of India is looking to raise $300 million (Rs 1,980 crore) in its second outing, the report said.
Last year, the investment firm was reported to be eyeing $350 million for the second fund. An emailed query to the company on whether it has cut the fund size did not elicit any response till the time of filing this article.
The PE fund has received commitments from anchor investors for $200 million for the new fund and it is also in discussions with third-party institutional investors in India and abroad, Srinivisan said in the report.
The new fund seeks to pick up larger stakes in portfolio companies and invest more capital in follow-on rounds. It is looking to invest in sectors including specialised consumer-facing companies, manufacturing, engineering, biotechnology, financial services and specialised retail.
In 2011, it had raised $100 million for its first fund that was invested across seven deals. For the first fund, it did not raise money from outside investors. The company invested in ING Vysya Bank, sports footwear retailer SSIPL, commodities exchange NCDEX, defence electronics maker Indus Teqsite, battery maker HBL Power and agro chemicals firm GSP Crop Science from the first fund.
Recently, it made its debut exit from its investment in Solar Industries, which makes a range of explosives and detonators. The investment firm generated returns of three-and-a-half times in the exit. Solar Industries was its second investment in India.
The PE firm was set up in 2010 as an equal joint venture between the Oman fund and SBI with a corpus of up to $1.5 billion to invest in India.