Special situations investment firm SSG Capital Management has picked up a 46.87% stake in non-banking financial company Shapoorji Pallonji Finance Pvt. Ltd.
SSG acquired the stake in the NBFC, part of the reclusive billionaire Pallonji Mistry-led Shapoorji Pallonji Group, in March, ratings firm Crisil said in a recent note.
The PE firm injected Rs 132 crore in the NBFC through a rights issue on March 28, Crisil said.
Sharad Bajpai, managing director at SSG Capital Management (Hong Kong), and Shyam Maheshwari, co-founder of SSG Capital Management, have joined the NBFC's board.
Incorporated in 1994, Shapoorji Pallonji Finance has been a dormant entity for the past few years. The company’s loan book was Rs 317 crore as on 31 December 2017, up from Rs 58 crore on 31 March 2017, the Crisil report showed.
The company offers structured financing solutions to corporate and real estate sectors which includes corporate loans, loan against shares, development financing, structured and mezzanine financing and special situations, according to its website.
Separate email queries sent to Shapoorji Pallonji Finance and SSG Capital Management did not immediately elicit responses.
Sanjay Hinduja has been the chief executive of Shapoorji Pallonji Finance since 2014. He was previously a managing director at Everstone Capital-backed Indostar Capital Finance.
SSG Capital Management
Asia Pacific-focused SSG Group was set up in 2009. It was co-founded by Maheshwari, a former member of Lehman Brothers Asia Special Situations Group.
The firm specialises in distressed and special situation investments. SSG Capital Management has been investing in India since 2014.
It had last month picked up additional stake in tour and travel firm Cox & Kings’ UK subsidiary Prometheon Holdings Ltd.
VCCircle reported last November that SSG had yielded substantial returns from partially exiting Future Supply Chain Solutions Ltd, the logistics arm of Kishore Biyani-led Future Group.
SSG Capital sold a 5% stake in Future Supply as part of the pre-IPO round, marking the first liquidity event in its India portfolio.
The firm had bought 40% stake in Future Supply Chain for $87 million (Rs 580 crore) in April 2016.
In 2014, it acquired 49% stake in Asset Care and Reconstruction Enterprise, an asset reconstruction company.
According to media reports, SSG had also invested in a couple of real estate projects.
SSG is currently investing from its fourth flagship fund, SSG Capital Partners IV, and its second private lending fund, SSG Secured Lending Opportunities II.
