While Dubai-based alternative investment firm Evolvence
Capital on Wednesday launched its third India-focused fund, UAE’s incumbent
Etisalat looked set to strengthen its presence in the Indian Subcontinent with
reports suggesting it is close to buying a 26 percent stake in Reliance
Communications.
Meanwhile, Zulekha Hospitals, a UAE-based health care group,
said on Wednesday that it is planning to expand and restructure its affairs in
the UAE and the Indian subcontinent. Clyde & Co, a leading law firm in the
Middle East, is advising Zulekha on the restructuring as well as obtaining a
$24 million convertible loan facility from the IFC, a member of the World Bank
Group.
“The Indian economy has shown considerable resilience
registering a 7.2 per cent growth in the financial year 2010, even during the
global economic downturn,” said Khaled Al Muhairy, Chief Executive Officer of
Evolvence Capital. “We believe that this growth is broad based and will
translate into long-term potential in the Indian private equity space.”
The Evolvence India Fund II — following the successful
closing of Evolvence India Fund I in 2007 and Evolvence India Life Sciences
Fund, a health care and life sciences fund in 2008 — is targeting a corpus of
$400 million from institutional and high net worth clients from across the
globe, the company said in a statement.
The fund aims to make select investments in the mid-market
growth capital segment in the Indian private equity market, through fund
investments, co-investments and direct investments, it added.
In a separate development, sources close to the negotiations
between Etisalat and Reliance said on Wednesday that the deal was close to
being finalized and could be completed by August.
The deal, which is expected to be worth $3 billion, would
give Etisalat, which is also poised to invest some $163 million to expand its
Sri Lankan operation, an immediate presence in India, and also give Reliance,
which has 100 million subscribers, additional funds for the roll out of its 3G
network.
The Etisalat deal would also give Reliance, India’s
second-largest mobile operator, access to the UAE telecom firm’s African
assets, which include operations in Central African Republic, Gabon, the Ivory
Coast, Egypt, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania.
Meanwhile, Zulekha is proposing to use $21 million of IFC’s
$24 million financing package to build a new 189-bed hospital in Nagpur,
Maharashtra.
“We are very happy to partner with IFC, whose global
experience and local knowledge of private health care in emerging and
developing markets will help facilitate our expansion to India,” said Dr.
Zulekha Daud, 72, Managing Director, Zulekha Hospitals Group. The remaining $3
million will pay for energy efficiency-related expenditure at Zulekha’s Sharjah
facility in the UAE.
In the hospitality sector, Abu Dhabi-based Rotana group
recently said that its three-star brand Centro could have scope for expansion
beyond the Middle East and North Africa region to markets such as India. The
company plans to open 25 such properties by 2014, with five hotels in the UAE.
