B K Modi group joins hands with Singapore firm for PE fund

B K Modi group promoted Spice Finance has entered into a joint venture with Singapore-based 3 Degrees Asset Management to launch a special situations private equity fund.    

Spice Finance and 3 Degrees will together invest $21 million in the first trench of the fund called Spice 3 Degrees Special Opportunities Fund. The fund will be closed after commitments from other third party investors reach $100 million, according to a press note.    

The fund will invest in India and southeast Asia and look for management control. It will target distressed assets, turnaround stories, recapitalisations and other opportunities that have become available due to turmoil in global financial markets, the press note said.    

Executive Director of Spice Finance Divya Modi said the company would invest Rs 500 crore in distressed assets and special situations as well as other niche businesses like remittances and over the counter exchanges.    

"Our strategic alliance with 3 Degrees is the first significant step in our goal to achieve a $1 billion valuation for Spice Finance within the next few years," he said.

Founder of distressed specialist 3 Degrees Asset Management Moe Ibrahim said: "Asia's distressed asset market is highly inefficient, very large and growing rapidly."     

"With over $2 trillion in opportunities and only a handful of sophisticated players, the Asian distressed asset market epitomizes the inefficiencies we seek to exploit as a firm."