Private sector Axis Bank had initiated talks with investors to spin off its private equity (PE) business as a separate entity, the lender said on Monday. The move was part of the lender’s restructuring plan, said a senior official of the bank. The lender’s PE venture, Axis Private Equity, has a fund size of $150 million.
Shikha Sharma, managing director and chief executive officer of Axis Bank, on the sidelines of the MMA Women Managers' Convention 2010 held at Chennai on Monday, said, “We have initiated a dialogue with our investors and the process would take a few weeks and this would be part of our restructuring plan.”
She refused to give a time frame for the plan. “We will first get investors’ approval and then decide,” she said.
According to industry experts, the move will help the PE arm to gain investor’s confidence, who prefer independent entities instead of banks or corporate-sponsored funds.
Axis PE’s dominant investment theme is infrastructure enabling/ services companies and the parent has 40 per cent of commitments in the same space, according to market sources.
The PE arm so far has invested Rs 60 crore in Hyderabad-based Vishwa Infrastructures and Services, Rs 126 crore in Delhi-based railway line manufacturer Harish Chandra India, Rs 75 crore in Neesa Leisure, Rs 67 crore Corrtech International and Rs 54 crore in Shalivahana Green Energy.
Commenting on the bank's plan to set up a subsidiary in the UK, Sharma said the bank had got permission from RBI and was awaiting one from the Ministry of External Affairs, she added.
