Mandala Capital in JV with Australia’s Water Resources Group

Mandala, whose founders and partners include Indian agriculture entrepreneurs as well as investment fund Altima Partners, will hold 51% of the joint venture, with WRG owning the remainder. The Altima Special Opportunities Fund is already WRG's largest shareholder, with a 13.78% stake, having invested in the company when it did an IPO in late 2010.

In addition to focusing on industrial and municipal desalination projects, the two firms will seek to develop new markets in seed and food preservation and food logistics.

India alone offers enormous opportunities in the water sector. The country is home to 16% of the world's population yet has only 2.5% of the world's land area and 4% of its water resources. Population growth, urbanization and industrialization have put these limited reserves under increasing strain. According to KPMG, water demand from Indian industry is likely to double in the next decade, while domestic and irrigation demand will increase by 40% and 14%, respectively.

"We are looking forward to taking advantage of the leadership position that WRG's chemical free, modular desalination system gives us, and expect expansion into other agriculture sectors such as seed and seedling treatment, fresh produce preservation, aquaculture and fish farming in the near term," Uday Garg, principal of Mandala Water and CEO of Mandala Capital, said in a statement.

Water management and waste water treatment is one aspect of India's massive infrastructure opportunity. Private equity and venture capital firms have primarily sought to participate in the sector through investments in technology providers much like WRG.

In December 2011, Matrix Partners India invested INR220 million ($4.2 million) in drinking water supplier Waterlife India. Earlier the same year, the VC firm backed Chetas Control Systems, which provides turnkey water metering solutions to municipal water boards.

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• Topics
• Infrastructure
• Expansion
• South Asia
• India
• Pakistan
• resources
• Joint Venture
• Matrix Partners