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Investcorp, a global alternative investment firm, seeks to ramp up its India investments to $5 billion in the next five years, co-CEO Rishi Kapoor said.
Within just four years in India, this 40-year-old firm with 14 offices globally and $52 billion in assets under management (AUM) has nearly $1 billion AUM in India with 16 investments.
“It’s been a hyperactive journey for us in India, and we have no hesitation saying that India has outperformed our original expectations. Over the last 50-odd months, India is probably the highest in terms of investments for Investcorp compared to any other region of the world,” Kapoor told BusinessLine.
He believes that India remains one of the “very few bright spots” globally in terms of macro-economic fundamentals and growth prospects.
“We are not pausing in terms of our aspiration or slowing it down. You will continue to see the same rapid accelerated growth of Investcorp’s footprint and capital deployment in India,” he added.
Investcorp is now exploring infrastructure investment trusts (InVITs), which are seen as key financing vehicles for the country’s ₹111-lakh-crore National Infrastructure Pipeline project.
“We are definitely contemplating it (putting together an InVIT structure). It is a natural extension of the kind of investment activity that we are involved in. It should happen over the coming months. Maybe this fiscal itself,” Kapoor said.
Investment themes
In India, Investcorp follows six broad investment themes, both in terms of private equity and real asset: healthcare, consumer and consumer tech, financial services, logistics, IT and IT services, and social infrastructure.
“Logistics, one of our focus sectors, is a part of both private equity investment, as well as real asset, which includes warehousing, distribution centres, etc,” Kapoor said.
Real estate business
In India, Investcorp has been active in the middle-income housing (₹60-80 lakh) sector through two funds that provide credit to developers. “Looking ahead we are reflecting on how we should refine our strategy. Residential real estate in India has had a notable bounce-back. Residential real estate is something we have been into for a long time, and we will evaluate how we should attenuate that focus going forward,” Kapoor said.
In the near term, Kapoor said, the company’s real estate focus is on two sectors — warehouse asset, distribution centres and warehouses; and softer social enterprise assets like school, student housing, and the education ecosystem in general.
ESG report
Investcorp on Tuesday released its annual ESG report titled ‘Responsible growth’. It outlines the company’s progress on its commitment to building high-performing sustainable businesses, driving greater social impact, and deploying resources and capital to accelerate decarbonisation both within the firm and across its global investment portfolio.
The report measures the company’s efforts against a range of ESG factors as core enablers in transforming sustainability commitments into credible action.
The report comes ahead of a series of planned announcements from Investcorp in relation to sustainable investing through the year.
“The release of our 2022 report is the first of many related initiatives we are leading to continue to make progress towards our ESG commitments. Given Investcorp’s extensive global scale and resources, we believe we have the capabilities, know-how, and capacity to meaningfully address and accelerate solutions to our climate challenges,” Kapoor added.
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