PE firm Creador Capital to close its second fund in August

MUMBAI: Creador Capital, an India and Southeast Asia focused private equity fund, is set to close its second fund this August. The new fund with a target corpus of up to $250 million (about Rs 1,500 crore) will see the entry of new investors, including a Bostonbased university endowment fund.

As of now the fund has attracted about $220 million (Rs 1,320 crore) from several investors who have backed Creador’s first fund. The firm, which invests in India, Indonesia and Malaysia, had raised a first fund of $132 million (Rs 762 crore) last year.

“A lot of our LPs (limited partners) did not want us to invest in India when we started out in 2011,” said Brahmal Vasudevan, founder & CEO of Creador, who was earlier a managing director at Indiabased private equity firm ChrysCapital.

While Creador was initially looking to invest around a fifth of the corpus from new fund in India, this could increase going ahead. “Given the new era with the Modi government, we are contemplating increasing our exposure. But it will be opportunity based,” said Vasudevan.

Its investments in Murugappa Group’s NBFC Cholamandalam Finance and tile maker Somany Ceramics have already doubled while its investment in Chennaibased housing finance firm Repco is trading at three times the purchase cost.

It has also invested in Sky Vision, the largest pay TV operator in Indonesia and Malaysian restaurant chain OldTown Coffee House. Going ahead Creador will continue to focus consumer facing businesses, targeting transactions of $25-30 million (Rs 150-180 crore).