Mumbai: Edelweiss Capital, the portfolio management and investment banking company which has advised several new economy companies, has raised funds to the tune of $3 million in a combination round which involved both VC funds and individual investors. The investors in this round of funding are ConnectCapital and several individual investors according to Rashesh Shah, Co Founder Edelweiss Capital. Among the individual investors are Sunil Wadhwani, Co Founder of the US-based iGate Capital. The other investo rs are several individuals from the company's client base. "These are very small investments from clients, associates and friends who have taken a few thousand shares, the idea was to establish a network which would add value to the company" explains Mr Shah. Mr Ramanan Raghavendran who runs the ConnectCapital operations in India is now on the board of Edelweiss Capital. Mr Shah also told eFE that the company has acquired a Mumbai-based institutional brokerage firm -Rooshnil Securities, in a cash and stockdeal. Explaining the rationale for this acquisition Mr Shah said that Edelweiss was looking for a public market presence since he expected some of the company's clients to go public within the next couple of years. "We want to help these companies go public and once that happens we also want to provide research and be active market makers when these stocks are being traded" says Mr Shah. Edelweiss has also launched its US operations which form part of its expansion plans. "It is becoming increasingly important for Indian companies to acquire firms overseas to perform their sales and marketing activities and also for US firms to cut costs by acquiring companies for off shore work, which is why we have set up a US office to facilitate these transactions" says Mr Shah.
Mr Shah said that Edelweiss is currently working with three companies to facilitate M&A deals. These include Indian as well as US companies according to Mr Shah who adds that the company is also in the process of raising money for a couple of US companies.
Edelweiss Capital was set up in 1995 by Rashesh Shah and Venkat Ramaswamy and has since serviced a roster of clients which include both pure net plays as well as technology companies. Some of the company's more prominent clients include Rediff.com (Edelweiss also advised the company on its recent acquisition of Thinkindia), Lexsite.com, Hungama.com and Unimobile (formerly Grey Cell). The more recent technology companies that Edelweiss has advised are Octon, an e-services firm, mistral, which specialises in embedded software and Servion.
Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
