Warburg Pincus Bullish On India

Warburg Pincus, the global private equity investment firm, has said India's "extraordinary dynamism" makes it the best place outside the US for investment.

The private investment firm today announced the closure of a $5.3 billion global fund, WP VIII, for investments in Asia, US and Europe, of which a significant portion could find its way into India.

Dalip Pathak, managing director, Warburg Pincus, said, "The raising of this new fund will continue to provide us with the resources, if and when we need them, to continue building our franchise in India, which is one of our key markets."

W Bowman Cutter, a managing director involved in raising funds for WP VIII, said, "India's steady move to a market-based economy and successful efforts to deregulate key industrial sectors continues to make the country attractive to US private equity firms."

 

"We hate to reveal our secrets but we believe India's extraordinary dynamism has created an environment which makes India, arguably, the best place outside the US to invest in the world," Cutter added. He also pointed out that Warburg Pincus is the largest private equity investor in India.

Together with the new $5.3 billion fund, Warburg Pincus now has a $7.8 billion chest for investments, including the $2.5 international fund, making it among the largest pools of capital meant for investment in private equity.

Thus far, Warburg Pincus has already invested over $670 million in some leading Indian companies, including Bharti Tele-Ventures, Gujarat Ambuja Cement (through an affiliate), HDFC, Moser Baer and Nicholas Piramal, among others. India has been the firm's biggest exposure in the Asia-Pacific region, it said in a release.

Warburg Pincus' areas of focus are business technology and services, financial services, communications, healthcare & life sciences, information technology, media, natural resources and real estate.

In its 30-year history in private equity, Warburg Pincus has invested at various stages of a company's life-cycle, from founding start-ups, providing growth capital, leading of restructuring of a company, recapitalisation and buyouts.