InvAscent-led India Life Sciences Fund raises Rs 25 crore for its New Fund

InvAscent, famed for its early-stage backing of Gland Pharma and Health Care Global through the first fund Evolvence India Life Sciences Fund, will continue to focus on the same set of sectors and investments.

MUMBAI: In another boost to the Indian healthcare and Pharmaceutical funding in India, India Life Sciences Fund, healthcare and pharmaceuticals-focused private equity fund has raised $250 million(Rs 25 crore) for its third growth capital fund. The fund is adviced by InvAscent.

As preliminary indications, the fund is going to focus on quality and low costs medicines.

"The demand for quality medicines and quality healthcare in India is very strong." "In addition, globally, there is a demand for high quality and low-cost medicines. And Indian firms are very good at addressing this demand," Hari Buggana, chairman and managing director of InvAscent Investment Advisors told ET.

InvAscent is known in the investment circle for its early-stage backing of Gland Pharma and Health Care Global (HCG) through the first fund Evolvence India Life Sciences Fund will continue to focus on the same set of sectors and investments.

In a strategic proceed, the company had invested Rs 120 crore in Gland Pharma in the year 2008 and later sold it at about Rs 1300 crore thereby gaining huge profit. Similarly, the firm has sold its stake in Healthcare Global to Singaporean sovereign fund Temasek. Further, it has made other investments in giants including medical equipment maker Sutures India and Dr Agarwals' Eye Hospital.

ET recounts the history of this unique fund in healthcare. InvAscent's debut healthcare fund, Evolvence India Life Sciences Fund (EILSF), had raised $100 million in 2006 and was anchored by Dubai-based fund-of-funds manager Evolvence.

The second fund, India Life Sciences Fund II, made the final close at Rs 875 crore ($143.2 million), against a target of Rs 750 crore, in September 2014.

"Our Fund I made eight investments and has exited all of them successfully, which is quite remarkable in the current circumstances. From the second fund, we began investing in 2013, have made 12 investments and it is fully deployed," Buggana told the daily.

Currently, the investors of the fund include blue chip fund-of-fund vehicles, pension funds and university endowments and family offices from the US and Europe.

"The per-investment ticket size would be between $10 million and $50 million. We have already made three commitments from the third fund," Buggana added

Other private equity funds operating in the healthcare space in India include Quadria Capital, Sabre Partners, Asian Healthcare Fund and Somerset Health Capital Advisors.

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