IFC set to invest as Everstone targets $650m for Fund III

The fund, Everstone Capital Partners III, has a hard cap of $700 million, IFC said in a filing. Its predecessor closed at $580 million in 2010, with LPs including HarbourVest Partners, Denmark-based Industriens Pensionsforsikring, and Maryland State Retirement and Pension System, according to AVCJ Research. The first fund closed at $425 million in 2006.

The IFC filing states that the new fund "will invest in equity and equity-linked instruments of companies that have significant operations in the Indian sub-continent and cater to or benefit from Indian domestic consumption and infrastructure development expenditures across various sectors."

This reflects Everstone's strategy to back India-based companies - investments from the past two years include Transpole Logistics (an exit was agreed with Japan's SBS Holdings in July), non-banking financial company Hinduja Leyland Finance, Aparajitha Corporate Services and fashion house Ritu Kumar - as well as those further afield.

Notably, the private equity firm acquired Singapore-listed bar and restaurant operator Harry's Holdings and a majority stake in the Indonesia franchise of Domino's Pizza.

Both assets also reflect Everstone's appetite for food and beverage investments. Last year it entered into a joint venture with Burger King Worldwide to bring hamburger chain to India, while a number of other food and beverage interests - including Noodle Bar, Bombay Blue and Copper Chimney - are held under the Cuisine Asia umbrella.

Verlinvest, a vehicle owned by the founding families of Anheuser-Busch InBev, is said to have acquired a minority stake in Cuisine Asia in 2012. It also has an interest in F&B Asia Ventures, the holding company for Harry's and India and Duck & Rice, a casual dining chain in India and Southeast Asia.

Everstone claims to have $2 billion under management across private equity and real estate. The GP closed its second industrial real estate and warehousing facilities-focused fund, Indospace Logistics Parks II, in January at $344 million.

Everstone's third fund could be one of the largest seen in India in recent years. In February, WestBridge Capital added another $325 million to its evergreen fund, taking the corpus to $850 million, while Aion Capital Partners reached a final close of $825 million on its maiden India special situations fund in May. Of the traditional GPs, Kedaara Capital raised $540 million for its debut fund in 2013.

India-focused private equity funds have $1.99 billion between them so far this year, already ahead of the final total for 2013 of $1.91 billion but still trailing the $2.68 billion raised in 2012 and $3.84 billion raised in 2011. The market has yet to recover from the hangover of the period of 2006-2008, when nearly $23.5 billion was raised in the space of three years.

However, a number of high-profile GPs are now either in the market or expected to return with new funds over the next year, including CX Partners, India Value Fund Advisors, Multiples Alternative Asset Management and ChrysCapital Partners.

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• Topics
• Fundraising
• South Asia
• Fundraising
• Everstone Capital
• India
• IFC
• LPs