ICICI arm buys Vernon's 40 percent in Updater Services
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Chennai: ICICI Venture has bought U.S. based venture fund New Vernon Bharat's 40 percent stake in Chennai based Updater Services (UDS), India's largest integrated facility management company, for close to Rs 100 crore, reported The Economic Times. Founded in 1985, UDS manages over 50 million sq ft of space across all segments including corporate, IT parks, industrial and retail. It also offers production support services for auto major Hyundai Motor India and French glass major Saint Gobain. UDS expects to achieve Rs 120 crore for the current fiscal. The company closed previous fiscal 2006-07 with Rs 82 crore. Actis and Future Capital are other funds in the race to pick up New Vernon's stake in UDS. Veda Corporate Advisors facilitated the deal. Earlier, New Vernon Bharat had picked up a minority stake in UDS in January, 2006 by pumping in $10 million. In a deal based on last year's turnover, UDS has been valued at Rs 200 crore to Rs 220 crore, while New Vernon has more than doubled its investment in just two years. Currently, the organized facility management service in India is estimated around Rs 600 crore per annum and growing at 40 to 50 percent year-on-year. "The booming Indian economy has created huge demand for office space, from both IT and non-IT sectors including retail. It also attracts large-scale investments in the manufacturing sector," said T Raghunandana, UDS Managing Director. He expects a gain for UDS by associating with ICICI, which has a large presence across regions, through its investments in real estate. As a group, ICICI has large properties under its operations and spends an estimated Rs 40 crore per annum on facility management.

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