Credit and Finance for MSMEs: SKI Capital Services, the share brokerage and financial services provider, announced its registration with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its Small and Micro enterprises focused Alternative Investment fund (AIF), through a statement. SKI capital targets to raise a corpus fund of Rs 600 crores.
The AIF registration will now enable the SKI’s capital to invest in SMEs and provide capital and financial support to MSMEs. According to the statement, the fund will be aligned with the interest of investors and the companies. The fund will further provide financial solutions to MSMEs and provide them with long-term shareholding value.
Also read: SME IPOs jumped 84% in 2022 from previous year; raised nearly Rs 2,000 cr
“The fund primarily focuses on pre-IPO/IPO investments. We believe that guiding SMEs towards IPOs inculcates discipline, provides visibility, and empowers these businesses for sustainable growth. Our geographical focus is exclusively on SMEs within India, tapping into the vast potential within our domestic market and championing the “Make in India” story,” said Narinder Wadhwa, Managing Director, SKI Capital, in a conversation with FE Aspire.
The investments will primarily be equity-based, for which the terms of the equity will be decided on a case-to-case basis, according to the standard equity investment principles. According to the information provided, for the first fund, the sponsor aims to fund a substantial portion of the corpus.
At present, there are 441 listed companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange- SME (BSE-SME), which have a combined market capitalization of Rs 21,611.28 crores, as per the dashboard of the BSE. To date, the listed SMEs on BSE have raised over Rs 5,150 crores. Overall the companies listed on SME to date have a market capitalization of Rs 72,258.59 crores.
Also read: MSME Day 2023: What’s driving SME listings on exchanges in India
The performance of numerous recently listed small businesses in 2023 has been excellent, notwithstanding the difficulties the Indian Stock Market has encountered on a worldwide basis. 49 offerings by SME companies have raised Rs 930 crore so far in 2023, which is almost nine times the market value of the five mainboard issuances. Approximately Rs 5,824 crore is raised by these five main board IPOs, as per data from Prime Database. According to recent news, SME IPOs 2023 so far witnessed 33 of 49 stocks trading above the offer price. This positive performance further underscores the potential and market demand for SME IPOs.