MUMBAI: BTS Investment Advisors, a Switzerland and India based private equity advisor, on Tuesday launched `BTS India Private Equity Fund,' a dedicated India fund that will invest in medium-size enterprises, seeking expansion of capital. The Fund will have a corpus of $80 million with international institutions as anchor investors.

The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) of Switzerland, acting through the Swiss Investment Fund For Emerging Markets (SIFEM), is the first anchor investor with a commitment of $12 million. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has joined as co-anchor with a commitment to invest $15 million. The Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO) and the International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF-Taiwan) are the other two anchor investors with an investment commitment of $5 million each. Apart from these anchor investors, the Fund received investment commitments from several high net worth offshore investors and family offices in Europe and Asia.

Alastair Guggenbuhl-Even, Chairman, BTS Investment Advisors, said, "We are launching this India dedicated fund at a time when the Indian economy is registering a record annual growth which will offer us exciting investment opportunities. We will be targeting medium-size companies of all growth sectors, which are either export driven or addressing the booming domestic markets. We will like to have significant minority stakes in these companies with an investment size ranging between $1 million and $5 million per company over a holding period of three to five years.''

BTS has been advising Swiss Technology Venture Capital Fund, which has been investing in Indian small and medium size companies since 1998 and built a portfolio of 19 companies spread across various sectors. BTS India Fund is a follow-on fund to Swiss Tec and would continue its investment strategy. The Fund will invest in industries where India has a global competitive advantage. Among the sectors targeted are life science, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, engineering, IT and IT-enabled services, telecom and entertainment.

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