The mysterious UBOs surfing in India’s small-cap froth
BENGALURU : Elara India Opportunities Fund (EIOF), an entity registered out of the island country of Mauritius, was once big on Adani stocks. At the end of December 2022, it owned 1.6% in Adani Enterprises Ltd, 3.62% in Adani Energy Solutions, and 1.62% in Adani Total Gas Ltd. Elara has since pared its ownership in the Adani companies, but has been busy betting big on Indian small-cap stocks.
The fund has committed ₹771 crore to small-cap companies, subscribing to preferential shares issued by eight of them since November 2022, a Mint analysis shows. Elara is not the only Mauritius-based fund backing small-cap companies. There are also Aries Opportunities Fund, Forbes EMF, Coeus Global Opportunities Fund, and AG Dynamics.
These five funds have invested ₹1,600 crore in 17 small-cap companies since November 2022. They accounted for 40% of the ₹3,953 crore raised by these 17 companies between 1 November 2022 and 29 February 2024, according to a Mint analysis. These companies had raised the money through preferential issues of shares to the public.
Elara invested in eight of these companies while Aries Opportunities Fund invested in nine. Forbes EMF and AG Dynamics have invested in seven companies each, and Coeus Global Opportunities Fund in six companies. Incidentally, in nine of these companies, entities controlled by alleged online gambling kingpin Hari Shankar Tibrewala and his business associates had invested or committed to invest another ₹202 crore.
Read more on livemint.com
