Religare launches 50 mn fund targeting Indian mid-size equity mkt

New Delhi, May 25 (UNI) Targeting India's high-growth and mid-sized private equity investment opportunities, the Ranbaxy Group-promoted financial services firm Religare today announced that it has formed a joint venture with US-based investment firm Evercore Partners to raise a 50 million dollars private equity fund.

The new fund called the ER Capital India Fund, will start with capital commitment of 20 million dollars from Evercore.

As per the agreement, ER Capital India Fund (ECIF) will leverage Evercore's investment expertise and global relationship network and Religare's strong local relationships, investment banking expertise, and broad geographic reach in the Indian marketplace.

The fund would target investors from Southeast Asia, Europe and Gulf region.

The ER Capital India Fund will have a tenor of seven years, with a provision for one-year extension. The commitment period for the investors would be four years.

The investment focus of the ER Capital India Fund will primarily be to target the capital requirements of mid-sized enterprises with a two pronged approach of sector and geographical focus.

The various sectors on which the fund will focus on include healthcare, retail, financial services, manufacturing and infrastructure and by geographic area it would aim to provide capital across Tier II and Tier III cities providing efficient growth opportunity. By deal size, the investments will be between 10 million dollars and 20 million dollars.

''Our aim is to fulfill the growing need of capital from the mid-sized Indian enterprises and also bring in value-added, credible and stable investors and to be a part of institutionalising high standards of corporate governance,'' Religare CEO and Managing Director Sunil Godhwani said.

Religare has a network of 150 branches and more than 300 business partners spread across 180 cities in India and two international offices.

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