Everstone targets $550m for fund II

Everstone Capital has begun fundraising for its second private equity fund. It is the private equity unit of Future Capital, which is the financial services arm of Indian retail conglomerate Future Group.

The firm is targeting commitments of $550 million for Indivision India Partners II, a source close to the firm told PEI Asia. The fund will raise capital entirely from overseas investors, in contrast to a few other Indian private equity firms such as ICICI Venture, Aditya Birla Private Equity and Reliance Equity Advisors, which have raised significant sums of money from domestic institutional and retail investors.

Indivision India Partners, the firm's predecessor fund, has deployed approximately $300 million across 16 investments, the source said, confirming a report which first appeared in India’s The Financial Express. The $425 million fund makes growth capital investments in businesses benefitting from the growth seen in consumption and consumption-related sectors.

Indivision’s parent company Future Capital was split into two business units in a reshuffling exercise that took effect on 1 January 2010. The firm’s private equity business was spun off as a separate entity and rebranded Everstone Capital, while non-investment business lines such as wholesale credit and retail financial lines remain under the Future Capital umbrella.

Everstone manages assets of more than $1 billion across Indivision India Partners and private equity real estate funds, namely Horizon Realty and Indospace Logistics, an industrial warehousing fund being raised in partnership with US industrial real estate investment firm Realterm Global.

Future Group’s flagship company is Pantaloon Retail which has more than 1,000 outlets across 61 Indian cities. The group also has interests in consumer finance, capital, insurance, leisure and entertainment, brand development, retail real estate development, logistics and retail media.