General Atlantic invests $104 mn in Fourcee

Mumbai: General Atlantic Llc., the US-based private equity investor that has invested close to $1 billion in India, has bought a minority stake for $104 million in logistics company Fourcee Infrastructure Equipments Pvt. Ltd.

Mumbai-based Fourcee provides bulk logistics solutions in specialized tank trailers and equipment. “Logistics and transportation for important products are key strategic elements for India’s infrastructure development and continued growth,” Ranjit Pandit, managing director at General Atlantic, said in a press statement. Pandit will join the board of Fourcee. “Fourcee is highly experienced in the movement of various specialty chemicals and liquid commodities and is well-positioned to serve its customers as they contribute to building India,” he said.

The $104 million investment happens to be the third round of funding for Fourcee, after having raised money from Mayfield India Fund, SIDBI Ventures and India Equity Partners.

“We plan to invest this capital in strategic operating assets to enhance the value proposition for our customers and help them drive better supply-chain efficiencies,” said Rajesh Lihala, chairman and co-founder of Fourcee.

Deal sizes are expected to go up as investors become more comfortable investing in companies with proven models and many such companies are today in the market looking for more funds, said Vikram Hosangady, head of transaction services at KPMG India Pvt. Ltd. “The growth stage of companies today is driving the ticket size up.”

Last year saw a surge in the number of high-value deals—there were 30 transactions above $100 million in value (worth $5.91 billion; 53% of total investments) compared with 19 (worth $3.46 billion) in 2010, according to data from research and financial consulting firm Four-S Services Pvt. Ltd.

Correspondingly, the average deal size for the year rose 16% to $32.9 million.

Over the last one year, several investments have taken place in the logistics sector.

India Equity Partners invested an undisclosed sum to acquire the domestic road operations of freight and logistics company TNT Express in India, Warburg Pincus India Pvt. Ltd invested $100 million in Chennai-based logistics firm Continental Warehousing Corp. Ltd and Aegis Logistics Ltd raised $15.11 million from Kaup Capital’s Infrastructure India Holdings Fund Llc.

Some of General Atlantic’s other investments in India include Asian Genco, Genpact Ltd, Hexaware Technologies Ltd and IndusInd Bank Ltd.

shraddha.n@livemint.com