Varde Partners to invest $1 billion in India over 12 months | Daily News Byte

“Over the next 12 months, across 6-8 transactions, we’re looking at somewhere around $800 million to $1 billion in terms of pipeline, where we see some real transactions, which are well advanced or in the progression stages,” Sandeep Chandak, Managing Director of Varde Partners, he said in an interview that Varde wants to invest $100-200 million per deal.

According to Chandak, although the investments will be mostly sectoral, they will consider a range of sectors where companies are strong, “from real estate to infrastructure to industry.” I would also include technology companies that have a business model and are more advanced late stage technology companies in the pre-IPO stage. And there are some possibilities,” he said without elaborating.

The private investor’s latest deals include the purchase of a 15% stake. ₹933 million in debt-ridden Reliance Power Ltd. Anil Ambani Group. Last year, Varde invested ₹550 crore in Reliance Infrastructure, part of the same group.

In India, over the last three to four years, Varde has deployed more than $3 billion in more than 20 transactions.

Since its founding in 1993, the company has invested $90 billion and manages more than $13 billion in assets across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

India accounts for about 40% of Varde’s investments in the Asia-Pacific market. The investor also has a strategic partnership with Aditya Birla Capital in India as it actively acquires debt through its Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC). This includes transactions with GMR Airports and GMR Infrastructure and the purchase of Punjab National Bank’s debt exposure to KSK Mahanadi Power.

The earlier phase of transactions in India was in special situations, and in the past few years, the mix of special situation loan executions has been evenly split, Chandak said, suggesting the firm may close more loan deals.

“In India today, private lending is likely to be a third to half of our focus area, and the remaining two-thirds to half would be special situations deals,” Chandak said.

In the early days, especially since the IBC (Bankruptcy and Insolvency Code) was passed, the company closed several secondary transactions and private credit and special situations deals, including one-time settlements and debt to technology companies. In December 2019, Varde was part of a group of investors that led one of India’s largest OTS transactions worth $922 million for distressed power producer RattanIndia Power Ltd.

“As an alternative provider of capital, we should be flexible in terms of how the economy and the country develop and what opportunities the state provides.” India as a country offers quite a lot of opportunities on the private credit side. It is a large economy with strong GDP growth, and you have a limited supply of private loans, which is done in an institutional way. All of which implies that it will be an attractive market for many, many years to come for someone like Varde,” Chandak said.