$1 Bn infrastructure fund on anvil
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New Delhi: U.S. hedge fund Fursa Alternative Strategies, India infrastructure financing group Srei and ex-Coca-Cola CEO Sanjiv Gupta, are launching a $1 billion India-focused infrastructure fund called Vision Global India Infrastructure fund. Gupta was MD of the Future Capital-promoted Indivision fund till recently, reported The Economic Times. The new fund will invest in multiple sectors like energy, power, roads and highways, oil & gas, aviation, railways, telecom, ports, urban infrastructure, mining & allied areas of logistics, construction and services. It is raising funds from the Middle East, the U.S., South East Asia and Japan, and has promised 25 promised returns on investments to investors. The fund is reportedly pursuing some investment opportunities and its first transactions are likely to be closed soon. The fund will be spearheaded by Gupta in India and will draw on Srei's expertise. But Fursa, with around $750 million in assets under management worldwide, will be the principal investor in the fund. Fursa was established by William Harley in 1999. It was bought by Mellon Financial in 2002 and then repurchased by Harley in 2006 and renamed Fursa Alternative Strategies. Despite the poor performance of the Indian stock market, the infrastructure sector has become attractive to investors given the construction boom and the number of government and private infrastructure projects in the offing. According to advisory firm Grant Thorton, in 2007, real estate and infrastructure attracted investments worth $6.7 billion through 61 private equity deals. This was more than one-third of the total value of PE investment announced last year and in terms of deal volume, was second only to IT & ITeS which clocked 67 deals in the country.
Source: IANS
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