Ambit Finance Plans To Raise $50 Million For Equity Arm

Investment banking firm Ambit Corporate Finance Pvt Ltd is planning to raise $50 million for its private equity arm GW Capital Company. The objective is to fund new ventures in the health care, pharmaceuticals and business process outsourcing (BPO) segments.

GW Capital, a joint venture between Ambit (40 per cent stake), HDFC and Gary Wendt (22.5 per cent each) and Industrial Development Bank of India (15 per cent), is tapping overseas pension and retirement funds to raise resources, Ashok Wadhwa, managing director of Ambit, said.

Since it was set up in January 2000, GW Capital, which has been capitalised at Rs 5 crore, has invested close to Rs 100 crore in four ventures - Shringar Films (a Mumbai-based film distribution company), Quality Care (a Hyderabad-based super speciality hospital), Epicentre (a Mumbai-based BPO firm) and another company, details of which have been kept under wraps.

 

Wadhwa pointed out that IDBI, LIC, HDFC and high net worth individuals have provided capital to the tune of Rs 150 crore to the ventures that GW has funded. GW is also considering the possibilities of setting up a special fund for film financing.

On the M&A scenario, Wadhwa said, there were many firms with good book values, low market value and debt-equity ratios.