UTI Venture ties up $120m round funding

UTI Venture Funds (UVF) plans to raise $120 million to launch its second fund focussing primarily on IT, ITES and biotechnology, besides a few other sectors. The company had earlier raised $40 million for its First Fund and nearly 70 per cent of that has been invested.

Said Raja Kumar, UTI Venture MD & CEO: "We should be starting our roadshows both in the country and overseas in another 10 days and we should have the fund in place in around 6 to 9 months. The opportunities in IT and ITES are growing manifold and we are set to expand our presence in the marketplace. We are pretty happy with our current portolio of companies which includes Subex and Strand Genomics."

He added that the anchor investors for the Second Fund have already been identified and the investors in the new fund will be a mix of both Indian and overseas institutions.

"We are also talking to a couple of hedge funds for them to be part of this new fund," Kumar noted.

Kumar further added that among the 12 companies in which they have invested in, they are looking at at least three exits shortly and due diligence for possible acquirers is already on.

"We are looking at all options for exit which includes merging of companies with complimentary skills, besides IPOs. Public issue by a pharmaceutical company in our portfolion is likely by next year," Kumar added.

Commenting on the fund management, he said, "We have the advantage of having access to emerging companies and our own wide business network. Our proactive approach by utilising own networks in the market place and market research and intelligence have helped us in achieving one of the highest deal flows in the industry and building a high quality investment portfolio."

UVF has the advantage of leveraging on its parent's (UTI) significant ownership position in most Indian corporates, including technology companies, its capital market presence and sister concerns such as the UTI Bank and UTI Securities.