BTS Investment Advisors, a private equity firm operating out of Switzerland and India, has floated a $80 million India fund to invest in medium-sized companies that are seeking capital for expansion. | |
| The fund has already received investment commitments from institutions such as Asian Development Bank ($15 million), Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets ($12 million) and a Taiwanese government fund ($5 million). |
| |
| The fund has selected sectors such as life sciences, manufacturing, engineering, information technology (IT), IT-enabled services, telecom and entertainment for prospective investments. The target companies would be the ones with a turnover of Rs 50-150 crore and an equity base of Rs 5-10 crore. |
| |
| "Indian economy is registering record annual economic growth (about eight per cent) which could offer exciting investment opportunities. BTS, which has a deep understanding of the Indian corporate sector, will be able to identify investment proposals, Alastair Guggenbuhl-Even, chairman, BTS, said. |
| |
| The fund would buy minority stakes (15-20 per cent) in companies and the investment will be capped at $1-5 million per company. The fund has a life of 10 years and expects to invest in 10-15 companies over 3-4 years, K Srinivas, managing partner, BTS, said. |
| |
| The fund has commitments worth about $45 million at present and it is likely to hit $80 million by December. Apart from institutions, BTS has already received commitments from many high networth individuals in Europe and Asia, Srinivas said. |
| |
| BTS also runs Swiss Technology Venture Capital Fund with a corpus of $22 million since 1997 for investment in Indian SME sector. The total funds managed by BTS Advisors are close to $1 billion, most of it is invested in Indian companies. |
| |
|
| |
