Samana To Raise Rs 4,000 Crore To Invest In Startups, Listed Stocks

Samana Global Business Solutions, which runs hospitals, restaurants and retail outlets in Kerala, on Monday on Tuesday announced plans to enter the asset management industry. The company is raising its first fund, Samana Global Fund, of Rs 4,000 crore, which will be invested across various sectors, according to a senior executive of the group.

IBMC Investment Managers and Advisors LLP, which provides advisory services to non resident Indians (NRIs), foreign companies and foreign nationals, will be Samana Global Fund’s (SGF) investment manager. It will control the fund and will evaluate investment decisions, IBMC CEO and partner Sajith Kumar PK said during an interaction.

The fund recently received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to be set up as a category 2 Alternative Investment Fund.

Samana will begin fund raising from next month, and start investing as well.

“We don’t want any idle cash lying around. As we raise money, we will invest it. There is freedom to invest in listed equities as well as high-growth startups,” according to OMA Rasheed, chairman and managing director, Samana Global Business Group.

Samana’s first fund will invest in a few select sectors such as hospitality, healthcare, retail, real estate and information technology (IT). “Since this is the first fund, we could invest it in startups as well as MNCs. The objective is to build credibility, which will help us raise further funds,” Rasheed said.

Samana currently has around Rs 900 crore worth of investments, primarily in Kerala, including Samana Retail, Apollo Dimura Hospital and Cafe Dive.

The proposed fund will be raised largely from foreign institutional investors and a small portion coming from domestic investors. IBMC will also provide a feeder fund from Abu Dhabi, which will provide money for the fund. – Livemint