Chancellor India Fund mops up $16 million in 2001

Priya Srinivasan in Mumbai

The Chancellor India Fund which is being put together by IL&FS Venture Corporation and the private equity arm of the US-based Invesco has garnered about $16 million since it’s inception in early 2001.

While $5 million was the initial corpus committed by the two partners, the fund has subsequently raised another $11 million, according to Mr Hetal Gandhi who is managing director of the IL&FS Venture Corporation (IVC). “We have raised this from individuals as well as institutions but I am not at liberty to name them” he added.

The Chancellor India Fund is gunning for a total corpus of $50 million.

Commenting on why the fund-raising process was taking so long, Mr Gandhi said, “While I agree that this fund raising has been on for a while, fund raising per se takes 1 to 3 years”. He said that with the American market for fund raisers virtually shut, this was not the best time to be raising money. ‘‘I will say though that the Far East is gradually looking up in terms of interested investors,” he added.

IVC in the meantime continues to invest from its existing funds. The firm recently concluded a deal to come in as the lead investor in Bangalore- based Tejas Networks’ latest round of funding. IVC currently runs three funds and is investing out of a total corpus of $50 million between the three funds.

The firm’s partner for the Chancellor India Fund venture is the private equity arm of the US based Invesco Funds Group which manages investment portfolios for some of the world’s largest institutions. The company has more than $30 billion in assets under management.
Some of IVC’s earlier investments largely in the growth capital phase include Bharat Serums, Kshema Technologies, LazerSoft and UTV.