Global private equity fund house EQT Group is looking to invest $50 billion in the country in the next four years. Of the total, EQT would invest about $35 billion in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, data centres and renewable energy, and another $10-15 billion in PE funds across its large-cap, mid-market and emerging early-stage strategies, Jean Eric Salata, chairman of EQT Group, said on Wednesday.
“We have taken a long-term view on India. Over the years we have set up one of the most stable and largest teams here,” he said, adding the country’s huge population, stable IPO markets , strong SIP base and sponsor activity have helped investors.
“When we entered, India was a sub-$1-trillion economy. Today it is $4 trillion. The credit-to-GDP ratio is significantly lower than the developed world. So there is a funding gap for entrepreneurs for growth of industries, this is where equity investors can play a role. We take a bit more risk but we provide very-much-needed capital to develop the economy,” he said.
The group has assets under management of $26 billion in the country and invested $7 billion since 2023 across healthcare, housing finance, technology and so on. India contributes 25-30% of its Asia PE investments. Globally, India represents less than 5% of its investments. “Globally, in our infrastructure business, India still has a relatively small percentage with room to grow,” he said.
He said India and Japan would be the two key markets that they would focus on in their buyout fund, and he expects each of them to be about 20% of the fund’s allocations. In April this year, EQT raised a record $15.6 billion in Asia buyout fund. He said they are the biggest investor in technology in Europe and would like to replicate it in Asia, including India.
“We have started off investing primarily in technology services but since then we’ve expanded into healthcare, as well as now significantly into data centres and infrastructure. That has become the most significant part of our investment strategy, and that’s going to continue to grow and probably be the largest capital that we deploy in the country,” he said.
EQT owns data centre company EdgeConneX which has a equal joint venture with Adani Enterprises in the country. EQT is one of the oldest global PE funds in the country and completed 20 years since opening office here.
Besides investment in multi-technology renewable energy platform Resolven, EQT is looking to make new investments in renewable energy sector.
EQT’s early-stage strategy, which invests in Hong Kong and China, is looking at regional strategies such as India, he said. In market strategies, EQT does investments of $100-400 million. They have two investments in the mid-market strategy: IT services company Indium Software and affordable housing finance company Niwas.