Sabre, Temasek to invest $5 b in India
By Sources   |   Thursday, 07 July 2005, 19:30 IST
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MUMBAI: Sabre Capital Worldwide Inc, is teaming up with Singapore state-owned investor Temasek Holdings Pte to raise as much as $5 billion to invest in Indian equities and bonds. The partners will this week apply for a license from India’s market regulator for the fund, which has been approved by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, says Rajiv Maliwal, Managing Director, Singapore, Sabre. “We will raise somewhere between $3 billion and $5 billion in the next five years, both offshore and in India, destined for investment in Indian equity and fixed-income markets,” said Rajiv Maliwal. Temasek, which last month won permission to increase investments in India, and Sabre are seeking to tap a $661 billion economy the government expects to expand 7% in the year to March. Interests rates that are near a 32-year low have bolstered corporate profits and lifted the benchmark Mumbai stock exchange Sensitive index by 50% in the past year. The planned investment, equal to more than half what overseas funds pumped into Indian equities and bonds all of last year, indicates “India’s growth potential and the kind of returns investors expect,” said Viswanathan Vasudevan, who helps manage $150 million of stocks at Aquarius Investment Advisors in Singapore. “It reflects India’s long-term potential.” Alexandra Fund Management, a fully owned subsidiary of Temasek, signed an agreement with Sabre Capital to set up a mutual fund targeting investments in Indian markets, said Temasek spokeswoman Rachel Lin. She declined to elaborate. “There’s an underlying confidence in the Indian growth story,” said Michael Preiss, director of the Asian Bond Market Forum. “If you are an investor you cannot afford not to own a part of India. More and more institutional money will look at the market.”

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