Edelweiss plans to raise ₹5,000 crore for pre-IPO fund

IT COMES AMID A FLURRY OF ACTIVITY IN THE IPO MARKET DUE TO STRONG INSTITUTIONAL, RETAIL INTEREST

MUMBAI: Edelweiss Wealth Management on Tuesday said it has launched the third series of its dedicated pre-IPO and late stage private equity fund Edelweiss Crossover Opportunities Fund with a targeted corpus of ₹5,000 crore ($700 mn).

“The late-stage private equity space has since gained momentum in the Indian scenario expanding to a new level of scale and opening larger opportunities. Crossover III will see the largest fund raise in the series, having raised ₹2,200 crore through the earlier series,” Edelweiss said in a statement.

The launch comes amid a flurry of activity in the initial public offering (IPO) market on the back of strong institutional and retail interest.

The first two series of the Crossover fund have invested in companies such as the National Stock Exchange, SBI Life Insurance Co Ltd, CAMS Ltd, Gland Pharma Ltd, IndiaMart Intermesh Ltd and Affle Ltd.

Crossover III will continue to build on the platform’s experience, expertise and capabilities to provide flexible and bespoke capital solutions to the market with this fund, Edelweiss said.

The Fund will partner with high-quality entrepreneurs and management teams as they transition from being privately held businesses to high-performance and enduring public franchises, it added.

“Private equity is now a wellestablished asset class in India and is making significant contribution to the development of India’s emerging corporate sector, while generating strong returns for its investors,” said Nitin Jain, managing director and chief executive officer, Edelweiss Wealth Management.

The Crossover III fund will invest in sectors such as consumer internet, fintech, banking and financial services, specialized manufacturing and business services.

“The phase of two-three years pre-IPO and two-three years post-IPO represent one of the best phases of growth and makes for a very attractive investment strategy. Crossover III will focus on this phase of high growth of future-ready businesses and partner with them as they transform into lasting publicly-listed franchises,” said Pranav Parikh, managing partner and head, private equity, Edelweiss Wealth Management.

With the pre-IPO strategy, the fund opens up access to private investments which usually are unavailable to most investors and enables them to capitalize on structural growth trends early on with reasonable exit time-horizons, it added.