Mumbai, Aug. 1: Switzerland-based BTS Investment Advisors has launched BTS India Private Equity Fund, an India dedicated fund that would invest in medium enterprises seeking expansion capital. BTS India Fund would have a corpus of $80 million with prominent international institutions as anchor investors.
The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) of Switzerland, acting through the Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets (SIFEM), is the first anchor investor with a commitment of $12 million. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has joined as co-anchor with a commitment to invest $15 million.
Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO) and International Co-operation and Development Fund (ICDF- Taiwan) are the other two anchor investors with investment commitments of $5 million each.
The fund has also received investment commitments from high net worth offshore investors.
This is not the first time that BTS is taking an interest in India. The group has already advised investments worth $1 billion in Asia, of which a large part has flowed into India via secondary equity markets through FII sub-accounts. It also advises Swiss Technology Venture Capital Fund, which has invested in Indian small and medium companies. This $22-million fund was sponsored by Seco in 1997 and it has a well-diversified portfolio of 19 small to medium companies. Among these, BTS has concluded seven exits so far with an overall return of 20 per cent in dollar terms.
Launching the fund, Alastair Guggenbuhl-Even, chairman, BTS Investment Advisors, said the fund is being launched at a time when the Indian economy is registering a record annual growth.
He said BTS would be targeting medium sized companies of all growth sectors, which are either export driven or addressing the booming domestic markets. It aims to have significant minority stakes (15-25 per cent) in these companies with an investment size ranging between $1 and $5 million per company over a holding period of 3-5 years and a portfolio of 10-15 companies.
K. Srinivas, managing partner, BTS Investment Advisors, India, said the India Private Equity Fund will focus on high growth sectors with global competencies.
