Financial services firm Avendus Capital Pvt. Ltd on Wednesday said it has raised new capital from existing investor Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. (KKR), a global private equity (PE) firm and new investors Gaja Capital, a mid-market focused PE firm and Yogesh Mahansaria, an entrepreneur who founded and sold Alliance Tire Group.
With this latest round, Avendus Capital has raised nearly Rs1,000 crore in the last two years. KKR continues to remain the largest investor and hence the majority shareholder.
According to a company statement, the funds will be used by Avendus Capital to create bespoke and synergistic solutions for entrepreneurs looking to scale up businesses and catalyse growth. The fresh round of investments will also bolster the company’s capability to ramp up its alternative asset management business and support the scaling up of Avendus Finance Pvt. Ltd, the non-banking finance arm of the group, which was set up last year.
“Our focus has always been on building a high quality well diversified financial services company delivering customized solutions for our clients as ‘One Firm’. Over the last few years, the efforts undertaken in this direction are bearing fruit with our newer businesses scaling up to critical mass and establishing their strong competitive positioning in the market place. The new capital commitment and support from our existing investor KKR and new investors Gaja Capital and Yogesh Mahansaria will enable us to provide a broader set of integrated, unique and trendsetting services and products to our clients,” said Ranu Vohra, managing director and CEO of Avendus Capital.
The Avendus Group is a provider of financial services with an emphasis on customized solutions in the areas of investment banking, wealth management, structured credit solutions and alternative asset management. Avendus Capital Inc. and Avendus Capital (UK) Pvt. Ltd located in New York and London respectively are wholly-owned subsidiaries offering mergers and acquisitions and private equity syndication services to clients in the respective regions.
Post KKR’s acquisition of Avendus in 2015, Avendus Capital has been expanding by bringing senior industry veterans into the group and building new business verticals.
Last year, Avendus expanded the business of Avendus Finance by hiring Sandeep Thapliyal, the erstwhile head of commercial and investment banking at RBL Bank Ltd. The NBFC arm launched a structured credit fund worth Rs500 crore.
In September 2016, Avendus Capital hired the entire top management of Ambit Investment Advisory, including chief executive Andrew Holland, MD Vaibhav Sanghavi and marketing head Bhautik Ambani as part of setting up the hedge fund business.
In August, Avendus Capital acquired Ocean Dial Asset Management Ltd, a UK-based asset management company that currently manages about £450 million in Indian equities across three funds.
Earlier in November, Mumbai-based financial services firm acquired technology-focused PE company Zodius Capital Advisors, an early investor in start-ups like online furniture retailer Pepperfry and grocery site BigBasket, Mint reported.
Source: Mint