Buoyed by the success of its first fund, ITVUS, UTI Venture Funds has now launched Ascent India Fund - a Rs 700 crore private equity fund.The new fund is aiming at reaping the benefits of investing in promising young Indian companies by providing them growth capital. The fund has a distinct mid-market focus, and the key investment theme of Ascent India Fund would be India's outsourcing strength, both in services and manufacturing. The focus industries include IT & convergence technologies, BPO, auto ancillaries, pharma and textiles.UTI Venture Funds has designed a novel structure for the Ascent India Fund by combining domestic and international investors into one unified vehicle. Many Indian banks, insurance companies and investment institutions have already provided significant commitments to Ascent India Fund. The fund has also attracted strong demand from International investors, which include hedge funds and fund of funds.The fund is expected to commence investments very soon, and has already lined up significant deals in the textile and auto ancillary industries.Dr.R.H. Patil, chairman of UTI Mutual Fund, said: "In a short span oftime, UTI Venture Funds has emerged as a credible and successful player. The new fund will enable it to further consolidate its position in the booming Indian private equity business."P.P. Prabhu, chairman of UTI Venture Funds, said: "At present, bulk of funds flowing into the Indian private equity deals come from abroad. We are happy that we are raising pre-dominantly domestic capital in order to bring the benefits of investing in this alternative class of assets to Indian banks, insurance and other companies. We are confident of creating impressive returns to our investors."K.E. C. Raja Kumar, managing director & CEO of UTI Venture Funds, said: "We see exciting opportunities in the mid-market segment. Our capital will bring in significant change in select companies and enable them to become winners."UTI Venture Funds is the venture capital and private equity arm of UnitTrust of India (UTI). It currently manages ITVUS, a venture capital fundwith interests in technology, life sciences and outsourcing.Representative investments of UTI Venture Funds include Glenmark Labs, Subex Systems, Scandent Solutions, Moschip, Foursoft, Strand Genomics, Excelsoft (a promising e-learning product company), B2K and Rev IT.
