CDPQ, Piramal commit $300m to India private credit
Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) and an asset management division of Piramal Enterprises have jointly committed $300 million to an Indian private credit platform.
CDPQ is contributing 75% of the investment while Piramal will commit the remaining 25%. The platform will target businesses across industrial, consumer, and healthcare sectors.
“The partnership will focus on performing credit and look to invest in companies with a scalable business model that have demonstrated strong execution capabilities, robust cash flows, a validated repayment history with lenders, and that require capital to support the continued growth of their businesses,” Khushru Jijina, a managing director at Piramal Capital & Housing Finance, said in a statement.
It comes less than four months after the Canadian insurance and pension plan investor agreed to acquire $250 million worth of convertible debentures from Piramal with a view to deepening its India exposure across a spectrum of sectors. CDPQ first invested in Piramal in 2017 with a $250 million commitment from its real estate unit aimed at providing long-term equity to blue-chip residential developers in major metro areas.
CDPQ has been an active investor in India since 2016, when it established an office in Delhi and recruited Anita Marangoly George, formerly a senior director at the World Bank, as head of South Asia. The firm entered the local financial sector in 2017 with an INR23 billion ($322 million) investment alongside Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) in Kotak Mahindra Bank. Last year, it invested INR18 billion in a credit unit of Edelweiss Group.
Piramal, a diversified financial services provider that traces its history to the 1980s, has proven keen to expand its exposure to corporate lending in recent years. Most notably, this includes the launch of a distressed assets fund alongside Bain Capital Credit in 2016 with a target of $1 billion. The India Resurgent Fund achieved a first close of $200 million in 2018 and received an additional $225 million commitment from CPPIB the following year.
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