Paragon Partners closes two deals worth Rs100 crore

Private equity fund Paragon Partners on Thursday said it has invested a total of Rs100 crore in Cravatex Ltd and InCred Finance.

Paragon Partners Growth Fund I (PPGF-I) is a Category II alternative investment fund. It was founded by Siddharth Parekh, the younger son of HDFC Ltd chairman Deepak Parekh, in partnership with Sumeet Nindrajog, in December 2015.

In a statement, Paragon Partners said it has invested Rs75 crore in Cravatex, a distribution platform for lifestyle, sports and wellness products, and Rs25 crore in a technology-driven non-banking financial company InCred Finance.

Cravatex Brands has a long-term licensing agreement with FILA, the Italian sportswear and lifestyle brand, for footwear, apparel and accessories. It also has the exclusive distribution rights, through its Proline Fitness division, for Johnson Health Tech (Taiwan), to promote its brands like Matrix, Horizon and Vision.

InCred, backed by Anshu Jain (former co-CEO of Deutsche Bank AG), focuses on four lending verticals: affordable housing, small and medium enterprises, education and consumer finance. InCred has raised more than Rs550 crore from several leading investors from India and overseas.

With these, Paragon Partners has deployed about Rs275 crore across four companies.

In March 2016, the PE firm had invested $10 million growth capital in Mumbai-based builder Capacite Infraprojects Ltd.

In August, it invested ₹ 111 crore ($16.5 million) along with anonymous co-investors in Maini Precision Products Pvt. Ltd.