Baring Asia named Firm of the Year at AVCJ India Awards

Baring Asia made investments of more than $650 million across two deals - a buyout of listed IT and business process outsourcing firm Hexaware Technologies, acquiring over 71% for around INR25.5 billion($400 million), and 14% stake in building materials maker Lafarge India for INR14 billion ($256 million).

KKR's acquisition of tire manufacturer Alliance Tire Group (ATG) in March 2013 is the firm's largest in India since it established a local operation in 2008. The GP reportedly paid around $470 million for a 75% interest and assumed $125 million in debt. KKR committed $300 million in equity from its first Asia fund, with Crescent Capital Group Ivy Funds' Ivy High Income Fund providing the remainder through a mezzanine financing tranche.

Ravi Adusumalli's PE Professional of the Year accolade came in recognition of his team returning a reported $200 million to LPs over the last 12 months, with a full exit from IT services provider CSS Corp. and a partial exit from Just Dial - and a more than 15x return - as the firm went public.

Exit of the Year went to Apax Partners which generated proceeds in excess of $350 million for a money multiple of more than 3x on its investment in Apollo Hospitals, one of India's largest healthcare chains. The firm is said to have invested around $117 million in listed Apollo since 2007 and then sold down its interest through a series of public market transactions, most of which took place earlier this year.

Kedaara Capital won the fundraising prize for its debut $540 million fund, one of the largest first-time India vehicles ever raised. The process took about 17 months and exceeded the $500 million target. Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is anchor investor in the fund, with Temasek Holdings and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) among the others reported to be participating.

Former Temasek India head Manish Kejriwal set up the firm at the end of in 2011 alongside Sunish Sharma, formerly managing director at General Atlantic, and Nishant Sharma, formerly of General Atlantic and McKinsey & Company.

"It is all about the team and our approach," said Manish Kejriwal, Kedaara's co-founder and managing partner. "We developed a clear strategy on what we wanted to do. It's also a team that is complementary, and which has worked together for 15 years. We have developed a unique approach in partnering with leading CEOs like Sanjeev Aga and Pramod Bhasin to execute control transactions, in addition to doing minority investments in high growth companies."

Snapdeal won Venture Capital Deal of the Year Award for a $50 million round of Series C funding, which featured eBay, Intel Capital, Saama Capital, ru-Net, Recruit Holdings, Nexus Venture Partners, BVP and Kalaari Capital. The round was said to value the online marketplace at $280 million. Kalaari and Nexus provided the Series A round in January 2011. Snapdeal is targeting $1 billion in annual gross merchandise value by 2015.

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• Topics
• Performance
• South Asia
• Performance
• India
• AVCJ Awards