PE - India - Religare

May 2006

With the aim of bringing investment into "under-represented" growth opportunities in India, financial services provider Religare has joined hands with US-based investment firm Evercore Partners to set up a $150 million private equity fund.

The fund, christened ER Capital India Fund, targets India-based high-growth and mid-sized private equity investment opportunities in segments such as healthcare, retail, financial services, manufacturing, auto-components and infrastructure in tier II and III cities.

Religare is wholly-owned by the promoter-family of Ranbaxy and marks the third area that the Ranbaxy group has got into. Pharmaceuticals and healthcare, through Fortis Healthcare, being the two other areas that Ranbaxy is strongly entrenched into.

The new private equity fund will start with a capital commitment of $20 million from Evercore and the rest would be raised from S.E.Asia, Europe and West Asia by August 2006. Religare's Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director is Mr Sunil Godhwani. It is a dollar-denominated fund targeting investors overseas and the revenues would be shared equally between the two sponsor companies.

The fund would look at investment opportunities in small and medium enterprises in segments that are under-represented in the stock exchange but have growth potential. The fund would look at deals of $10-20 million and targets funding about 14 companies this year. The commitment would be for a period of four years.

Mr Shivinder Mohan Singh, Director-Religare and Managing Director of Fortis Healthcare, said that fund would provide India-centric funds to individuals, corporates and expatriates abroad. A fund for Indian investors may be on the anvil at a later date. Stressing the potential of the financial services sector, he said, it goes beyond the Sensex that has been rather volatile in the last few days.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/05/26/stories/2006052603121900.htm