KIAL announces closure of Kotak India Growth Fund II with Corpus of 440 million dollars
31 Mar 2008, 2042 Hrs

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Mumbai, Mar 31 (ANI/Business Wire India): Bucking the recent financial turmoil and capital scarcity prevalent in the Indian and global markets, Kotak Investment Advisors Limited (KIAL), a subsidiary of Kotak Mahindra Bank, today announced the first and final closure of their third private equity fund - Kotak India Growth Fund II with a total commitment of 440 million dollars.

The Fund has been raised within a period of less than three months from the client base of Kotak Mahindra, both institutional investors and high net worth individuals. KIAL, which focuses exclusively on managing the alternate assets business of the Kotak Mahindra Group, now has assets under management 1.4 billion dollars split almost evenly between two asset classes namely - private equity and realty funds.

"People across the globe desire to be a part of the Indian growth story and we wished to create an opportunity for Indians to take advantage of their own country's surging economy. The huge corpus that the fund has mopped up is a testimony to the trust and credibility associated with the Kotak brand. It also illustrates the group's strong captive client base and the ability to leverage cross-selling of home grown products," said C. Jayaram, Executive Director - Kotak Mahindra Bank.

As part of KIAL, Kotak Private Equity Group (KPEG) led by Nitin Deshmukh, CEO Private Equity will now manage three funds across two strategies - Growth Capital (India Growth Fund I and India Growth Fund II) and Venture Capital for Life Sciences (Kotak India Venture Fund - I). KPEG invests in companies across a broad range of industries seeking capital for business expansions, acquisition financing and buyout transactions typically investing between 15 million dollars and 40 million dollars depending on the nature of the company's business, stage of growth and its financing requirements.

Kotak India Growth Fund I, has invested in companies such as Home Solutions - a subsidiary of Pantaloon Retail Ltd which is country's fastest growing chain of home improvement stores; INX Media- the media entertainment company, DRS Logistics - a leading player in the 3PL logistics space in the country, BFW - the largest manufacturer of CNC machines in the country; SIRO Clinpharm- country's largest local full service clinical research services company, Metahelix - an AG-Biotech company, ICOMM Tele- country's largest telecom tower manufacturing company and BVG India- country's leading Facilities Management Service provider among others.

"This is the best time to be sitting on investible cash. Country's economy has been growing at a very healthy rate during the last couple of years and it's continued growth is expected to throw up several opportunities in the mid market space in high growth segments of global manufacturing, domestic consumption and infrastructure led services. The recent capital market dynamics are also expected to help moderate investment valuations," said Deshmukh. (ANI)