 "Vishesh Shrivastav, MD Temasek India")
Temasek, the Singapore-based fund, is looking to invest in the Indian consumer retail, healthcare and technology companies after it made its blockbuster $2 billion investment in Manipal Health Enterprises to increase its stake to 59 per cent.
“Since 2004, we have been investing on an average $1 billion per annum in India across technology, telecom and consumer retail sectors. We are long term investors and are scouting for opportunities in several sectors,” Vishesh Shrivastav, Managing Director, Investment (India), of Temasek said.
While each investment made in India has to compete for capital with projects across the world in the fund, Shrivastav said India offers favourable demographics, aspirational population, and high class of entrepreneurs. “Stable policies and creation of good infrastructure is another big positive for India,” he said. “We are sector agnostic and investing in four broad themes such as the future of consumption, digitisation, sustainable living and longer lifespans,” he said.
The fund is an investor in Tata Play, the satellite TV broadcaster, Zomato,a food delivery app, Ola Electric and Intas pharma. The fund has also invested in Ascendas – which is building greenfield warehouses across India.
On April 18th, Temasek signed definitive agreements to acquire an additional 41 per cent stake in Manipal Hospital apart from holding 18 per cent via Sheares Healthcare Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek. The promoters of Manipal will hold about 30 percent of MHE. Global fund TPG will hold an interest of 11 per cent in MHE, through its new Asia fund - TPG Asia VIII while National Investment & Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) will exit its holding from MHE.
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Shrivastav said the healthcare investment is part of its strategy to invest in healthcare, pharmaceutical and diagnostic segments. “We would like to do more deals in this space as we see better returns going forward,” he said.
“We are extremely satisfied with the returns from India and have made steady exits over the years.”
The fund is also bullish on the renewable energy sector where its investee company O2 Power is constructing 3 gigawatts of renewable power projec
