Piramal Finance Ltd, a unit of Piramal Enterprises Ltd, has sanctioned Rs400 crore for emerging and mid-market businesses through its newly launched Emerging Corporate Lending (ECL) vertical, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
The ECL vertical was launched as a sector-agnostic platform that targets ticket sizes ranging from Rs10-100 crore, across manufacturing, trade and services sectors.
“Our ECL vertical addresses financing requirements of emerging and mid-market companies, a target segment that has historically remained relatively under-banked in the country,” Khushru Jijina, managing director, Piramal Finance said in the note. “This is a natural progression for our platform and adds both diversification and granularity to our existing lending portfolio.”
ECL has provided funding to various sectors such as automotive dealerships, auto ancillaries, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, electronic surveillance and IT services, the company said.
ECL targets Rs1,000 crore of disbursements by the end of this fiscal, it added.
Piramal Finance in recent months has been broadening its offerings and sector focus. Until recently, infrastructure and renewable energy were its core focus areas.
Last month, Piramal Finance invested Rs485 crore in logistics solutions provider Apollo LogiSolutions, a unit of Onkar Kanwar-led Apollo International Ltd. It was Piramal’s first exposure to the logistics sector.
Earlier in May, the firm expanded its lending services to the auto-components sector by financing two firms through structured credit transactions worth Rs565 crore. The investments were made through the Corporate Finance Group (CFG), earlier known as the Structured Finance Group, of Piramal Finance. CFG invested Rs275 crore in RSB Group and Rs290 crore in Indoshell Mould Ltd.
Piramal Finance provides both wholesale and retail funding opportunities within the real estate and non-real estate sectors. The firm said it offers funding across the entire capital stack, ranging from early-stage private equity, structured debt, senior secured debt and construction finance to flexi lease rental discounting (within real estate).
Piramal Enterprises has $4.9 billion of funds under management across various financing businesses, including Piramal Fund Management, which provides financing solutions to real estate companies, CFG, and the recently launched distressed assets investing platform.
The company, which has recently applied for a housing finance company licence, has strategic alliances with top global funds such as APG Asset Management, Bain Capital Credit, CPPIB Credit Investment Inc. and Ivanhoé Cambridge.
Source: Mint