Baring to raise $450 mn for third India fund

Baring Private Equity Partners (BPEP) will raise $450 million for its third India fund for strategic investments in healthcare, pharmaceutical, IT-enabled services, FMCG and alternative energy generation sectors in India.

About 30 per cent of the fund will be specifically targeted towards healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors, Akhil Awasthi, partner, BPEP (India) said. BPEP's ongoing investments in over 20 companies have come from its earlier India funds of an aggregate size of $200 million. BPEP had raised $175 million as second India fund in 2004.

"Unlike several other sectors, healthcare and pharmaceutical is an ideal industry to leverage on intellectual capital. There are various niches, technologies and market segments that one could explore. There are at least 25-30 knowledge driven companies in this sector that could go for an expansion mode on their intellectual strengths," Awasthi said.

According to him, the conventional models do not attract PE funds anymore. "The industry paradigm has changed. We are looking at companies where we could be long-term partners," he added.

BPEP has so far invested in 3 healthcare, pharmaceutical firms, the most recent one being Bangalore-based Rhea Matrix, a company that make use of optics in diagnostic space to develop both hardware and software solutions. It has also invested in a pharmaceutical marketing analysis and consultant company Pharmarc.