Fourcee Infrastructure’s chairman & co-founder Rajesh Lihala moved beyond the import-export family business in 2002 to start a logistics firm dealing in non-petroleum liquids. The new venture, called Prelude Exports Ltd, saw limited success, but he stuck to it and five years later, rechristened the company as Fourcee Infrastructure to carve a pie of the highly fragmented but multi-billion-dollar market for moving liquid products – both across the country and cross border. Taking advantage of the Indian Railways opening up to public-private partnerships (PPP) and Special Freight Train Operators’ (SFTO) licences, Lihala built the firm, which is now expecting to hit Rs 500 crore in revenues for the year ending March 2013. Investors smelt money in the business and SIDBI & Mayfield Fund invested in the company back in 2010. Early last year, they were bought out by private equity major General Atlantic who put in $104 million for a minority stake.
VCCircle caught up with Lihala in an exclusive interview where he discussed the dynamics of the business, acquisition plans, future milestones and how he would prefer providing an exit to General Atlantic through a buyback, rather than an IPO.
