Greater Pacific picks up 20% in Edelweiss Cap

London-based Greater Pacific Capital, a fund established to invest in India and China, has picked up a 20 per cent stake in Mumbai-based Edelweiss Capital for Rs 125 crore. The deal puts the valuation of the local investment company at Rs 650 crore.

Edelweiss Capital CEO Rasheh Shah said the foreign fund has acquired 11 per cent from the company, while it bought 9 per cent from one of the shareholders, Connect Capital. After the transaction, the management of Edelweiss continues to hold nearly 70 per cent stake while the balance 10 per cent is widely held.

Incorporated in 1995, Edelweiss is a full service investment bank with offices in Mumbai and New York. The fund's turnover is expected to reach Rs 140 crore this year.

Over the last five years, it has been posting over 100 per cent growth in revenue. Edelweiss Capital is scaling up operations in asset management, equity capital and private client business. It is raising a real estate fund a private equity fund of $ 100 million each.

Ketan Patel, founder and CEO of Greater Pacific Capital said, "Edelweiss is one of the few privately-held, broad-based investment banks in India. We believe it has the potential to become a leading institution in the high growth financial services industry in India."

He said Greater Pacific is mobilising nearly $300 million to invest in India and China. " A major portion of the fund will be put in in India. We have chalked out some growth areas for investment in the country namely pharma, outsourcing, knowledge power outsourcing, commodities, technology, energy and real estate," he added.

Greater Pacific was founded by Ketan Patel, Joe Sealy and Francis Crispino. All of them were associated with Goldman Sach.