SBICAP and Softbank Investment form JV for $100 Mn fund
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The investment banking subsidiary of State Bank of India (SBI), SBI Capital Markets (SBICAP) and Softbank Investment, the venture capital arm of Japan's SBI Holdings, have a formed a joint venture for a $100 million India fund. The fund will invest about $3 million to $10 million on growing companies in the knowledge sector that include BPO, KPO, life sciences, online businesses, technology-enabled design and manufacturing, as well as in emerging areas of nanotechnology and environmental technology. The 50: 50 joint venture fund will be co-managed by both the partners - SBI Capital Markets and Softbank Investment Holdings. Softbank Investment currently manages 18 venture capital funds, and is one of the active shareholders of Yahoo and E*TRADE. SBI, India's largest bank, has been making a few private equity placements directly in companies of late. It is looking at investments in core sectors such as power, telecom, petroleum, oil, gas, roads, ports, airports and hotels for its PE and VC investments, the prospectus said. SBI Capital Markets was set up as a wholly-owned subsidiary of SBI. In 1997, Asian Development Bank (ADB) picked up a 13.84 per cent stake in the company.