PE fund Evolvence India to list on LSE; would raise $65 mn

Isle of Man-based Evolvence India Holdings is planning to raise $65 mn (Rs. 290 crores) through placement of shares on London Stock Exchange. Evolvence is a private equity fund company which principally targets investments in the Indian subcontinent would place up to 65 mn ordinary shares of $1 per share. The company would primarily focus on India and give weightage to co-investment opportunities. The company would passively invest 70% of the investible funds to the Evolvence India Fund (focused on PE, real estate and infrastructure development in India), 10% in the Evolvence India Life Science Fund (focused on small to mid-sized Indian biotech firms) and 20% of the funds in direct investments.

Read The Economic Times article.

Deutsche Bank’s real estate arm in talks with Emaar-MGF for investments worth $200 mn

Deutsche Bank’s real estate arm is in advanced stages of talks with real estate major Emaar-MGF to invest around $200 mn in the company. If the transaction goes through, it could possibly be the biggest deal in the real estate sector in India. As of now, the largest private equity transaction in the realty space has been Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund’s $125 mn investment in Mumbai-based Oberoi Constructions (See Related Post).

Deutsche Bank’s investment will be done through its New York-based real estate arm RREEF. RREEF is one of the biggest real estate investors in the world with over $65 bn in assets under management. It currently has seven separate funds around the world which make investments in real estate and infrastructure. It provides services in fund management, investment management, asset management, property management, leasing, research, construction and development.

The stake Emaar-MGF will dilute is not known as the transaction is expected to be a quasi-equity deal. RREEF will hold convertible debentures in the company. Last year, Citigroup and New York Life Insurance had picked around 2% equity in Emaar-MGF Land for a consideration of $100 mn. Evolvence India Fund had recently invested $41 mn in Emaar-MGF.

Emaar-MGF is a joint venture between the Dubai-based real estate company Emaar Group and India-based MGF Developments. It plans to hit the capital market sometime in the third quarter of 2007. It is expected that the JV will dilute about 5-10% of its equity in the IPO. On the hospitality front, Emaar-MGF recently entered a 50:50 JV with French hospitality chain Accor. The JV aims to build and operate a chain of 100 budget hotels with an investment of $300 mn. Of this, the first 20 are likely to come up on Emaar-MGF’s existing land bank.

Read The Economic Times article.

Evolvence to launch Indian private equity fund

Dubai-based fund-of-funds Evolvence Capital is launching an AIM-listed closed-ended FOF in January which will invest in Indian PE funds. The fund intends to raise $105 mn for the Evolvence India Fund. The FOF will invest in a number of closed-ended PE funds focused on the Indian infrastructure, pharmaceutical and retail sectors. UTI Ventures’ Ascent India Fund, Barings India Private Equity Fund II, IDFC Private Equity Fund II, India Value Fund II, IL&FS’ Leveraged India Fund and New York Life Investment Management India Fund II will be the initial beneficiaries of the fund.

Earlier this year, Evolvence had made direct investments into Emaar-MGF Land Private Limited, Centurion Bank of Punjab, Consolidated Construction Consortium Limited (an engineering and construction contractor) and Eastern Silk Industries Limited (a silk textile manufacturer). Also, sometime in the April – June quarter of 2006-07, Evolvence announced the launch of a $150 mn fund for investing in small- and medium-sized Life Sciences companies in India.

For more details, read the article from Citywire.co.uk.