UTI Asset Management targets $600m for infrastructure(2)

UTI Asset Management, one of India’s largest asset management companies, is raising a $600 million (€382 million) fund for investing in infrastructure in India. The fund is being raised through UTI International, a subsidiary of UTI Asset Management that is responsible for all international business activities of the parent company.

The fund will make direct investments in infrastructure projects throughout the country such as roads and bridges. A person familiar with the development told PERE's sister website, PEO, that the fund could invest throughout the country, “wherever there is opportunity or wherever there is a good rate of return on the projects”.
 
He added that while a few potential projects “have been identified”, no investments had been made so far.

The fund is being raised with German bank HSH Nordbank and Shinsei, a Japanese commercial Bank, the source said.

The fund will be managed by a team of four or five managers yet to be finalized. It will be headed by K Mukundan, who was formerly head of infrastructure at the Small Industries Development Bank of India, and an assistant vice president at SIDBI Venture Capital, a venture capital firm focused on investments in India. Mukundan declined to provide any details about the fund.

This is not UTI Asset Management’s first foray into the private equity space. Its other subsidiary, UTI Ventures, is an India-focused private equity manager which makes growth capital investments in various sectors.