Swedish fund looks for Indian partners

Swedfund International AB, a fund which invests in Swedish companies to enter new geographies, is looking for Indian partners for its portfolio companies and investment opportunities in local companies. India is a new market for Swedfund and it will first invest in building its network.

"Though the investment strategy revolves around Swedish companies with partners abroad, the trend now is to invest in local companies too. We are here to understand the market and look out for local partners to forge tie-ups with our portfolio companies. We are willing to invest between $1-10 million in a company, depending on the firm and the technology it is working on," Anders Craft, director, investment operations, Swedfund, said.

Without revealing details on the total investments it would like to make in India, Craft added that the idea was to help Swedish companies establishing or expanding their businesses in the investment countries.

The 25-year-old funding company offers risk capital and know-how for investments in Central and Eastern Europe. However, as part of a recent strategy, the company has included India among its list of investing countries.

So far, Swedefund has made about 55 investments worth about $150 million. The new markets that would now get Swedfund's attention include India, China, Russia, Latin America and Africa.

"India is a new market for us and we are willing to spend money to build our network and increase our presence here. We may be inclined at setting up our own operations after two years," Craft added.

In August this year, it invested in Mumbai-based IIEL, which is popularly known by its brand name, Quippo. This company rents out construction equipment like dumpsters and elevators. The Swedish link for this Indian company is Skanska, which is also into construction equipment and was funded by Swedfund.

"We are looking for companies set up in niche areas and are in an expansion mode as well as require marketing assistance. We are not only focusing on the information technology sector, but also examining investment across all sectors," Craft added.

Swedfund has a market price on its capital. Its interest rate is not lower than the banks' and therefore it is not compete with them. The interest also depends on the risk. Lower the risk exposure, lower is the interest rate.

Among the investments made so far, 71 per cent is in the form of share capital, 20 per cent in loans and 9 per cent in guarantees. The company works with the Swedish Trade Council.