EQT's growth fund to pursue deals of $50m-250m in India
investment group EQT will now look at deals of $50 million-250 million in India from its newly raised $1.6 billion BPEA EQT Mid-Market Growth Partnership (MMG Fund).
The new fund, in addition to the large-cap buyout Asia fund, will look at deals primarily in closely held companies.
«As the flagship fund becomes bigger, there is that opportunity in the mid-market space with a ticket size of between $50 million and $250 million that is getting left out,» Hari Gopalakrishnan, partner, EQT, told ET. «So, we are targeting that space with this mid-market strategy. We set out to raise $750 million, but the demand was quite strong. So, we ended up raising twice what we expected.»
The firm has been investing from its $11.2-billion Baring Asia Private Equity Fund VIII, which it had raised in 2022. It will use this fund for deals of above $300 million. India forms about 40% of the allocation of this fund. «It's not a hard allocation, it's just that we see opportunities in India. And, so we expect India to be a big driver of mid-market as well,» he said.
In 2022, EQT AB had acquired Barings Private Equity Asia (BPEA) in a $7.5-billion cash-and-stock deal.
The new fund will focus on controlled investments, which is the same investment strategy as the large-cap fund.
«In large cap, we focus on a few sectors — tech services, healthcare, financial. We will focus on the same sectors in the mid-market fund. And we will do buyouts, especially, in businesses where founders are looking to transition out, etc,» Gopalakrishnan said.
