Spotlight: CPPIB-backed NHAI InvIT on a smooth ride but faces a few bumps
Earlier this month, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the government-owned highway developer, unveiled a new corporate strategy for its infrastructure investment trust (InvIT), National Highways Infra Trust (NHIT). Now, a new corporate identity is not a significant event in and of itself, especially as it may not have a ......
Spotlight: Is the tide turning for Gopalpur Ports as Adani takes control?
A little over a month ago, India’s biggest port operator got a little bigger. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd said in late March that it was buying a 95% stake in Odisha-based Gopalpur Ports Ltd (GPL). Adani Ports, part of the Gautam Adani-led eponymous conglomerate, agreed to acquire a ......
Spotlight: Quikr remains in quicksand after failing to monetise its string of acquisitions
Online classifieds platform Quikr, one of the earliest tech unicorns in the country once used to boast a larger-than-life scale of its total addressable market. In November 2018, while talking about how the company grew in 2017-18, Pranay Chulet, founder and chief executive of the firm said: “Quikr is built for ......
Spotlight: Can KKR-backed Hero Future catch up with green energy giants?
Back in 2012, when it was founded, Hero Future Energies (HFE) was one of a handful of renewable energy companies that looked set to dominate India’s wind and solar power landscape. After all, it was backed by the multi-billion-dollar Hero Group that has interests across automotive and electronics manufacturing, financial services ......
Spotlight: Can AT Capital’s legacy help Juniper Green Energy meet its bold targets?
In early January, Juniper Green Energy Pvt Ltd said that it would spend Rs 8,000 crore to expand its renewable energy generation capacity. By all measures, that’s a big sum of money, especially for a low-profile company, and it may seem like a tall order. But dig a little deeper ......
Spotlight: Can GIP-owned Ascend Telecom hold its ground in a duopolistic sector?
Last year, US-based private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) stitched a bolt-on deal in India through its portfolio company Ascend Telecom Infrastructure Pvt Ltd. The deal made Ascend India’s third-largest telecom tower operator in the private sector. For any company in any other industry, the third rank might be ......
Spotlight: How well has the Fairfax-owned Indian airport recovered from Covid jolt?
Over the past three years or so, aviation in India has been on a rapid growth trajectory. While domestic carriers are adding hundreds of new planes to their fleets, the government has been opening new airports across the hinterland and private operators have been upgrading existing ones. Little wonder, then, that ......
Spotlight: How EQT-Temasek's green energy platform O2 Power is gunning for growth
In November 2019, just months before India went into a nationwide lockdown, Swedish private equity firm EQT Partners and Singapore state investment firm Temasek set up an Indian renewable energy platform that they said would target a 4GW of installed capacity across the solar and wind segments. At the outset, the new platform received ......
Spotlight: Ascent-backed Skanray needs to defy one-trick-pony act to get new investors
Mysore-based medical device manufacturer Skanray Technologies Pvt. Ltd recorded robust growth during FY21 amid a raging pandemic but has since struggled to shore up its dwindling finances. So much so that the ventilator maker, which is backed by private equity firm Ascent Capital and counts Strides Pharma founder Arun Kumar ......
Spotlight: Capital Square Partners-controlled Aegis BPO is stuck in a time warp
When Capital Square Partner (CSP) led a consortium of private equity investors to seal a rare leveraged buyout in India, six and a half years ago, by snapping debt-laden Essar Group’s BPO business Aegis, its managing partners Sanjay Chakrabarty and Mukesh Sharda, said in a joint statement that they are ......