SBI floats joint venture PE fund in Oman; plans to boost employee base

09 June 2009

The State Bank of India, which earlier set up an infrastructure fund along with Australia's Macquaire and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), is now in the process of setting up a joint venture private equity fund in Oman.

The bank is also in the process of building up an employee base for its future expansion programmes.

SBI and Macquarie hold 45 per cent stake each in the infrastructure fund while IFC holds the remaining 10 per cent stake. The fund has projected a total capital, including contributions from domestic institutions, of $2-3 billion.

"The bank is at an advanced stage in setting up a general purpose private equity fund jointly with sovereign entities in Oman. The Indian government has designated the bank as the operationalising agency for a similar sovereign fund with Qatar. Several other funds are at various stages of formation," SBI said in its annual report.

The fund will invest in fully convertible and optionally convertible debentures in the form of equity and mezzanine debt instruments in projects for constructing roads, ports, airports and power plants.

SBI also has an India-focused infrastructure fund with Macquire and Washington, to boost investment in the country's infrastructure sector. The fund has mobilised over $1 billion and plans to continue fund raising activities the whole year.