The government has appointed SBI Ventures (formerly SBICAP Ventures) as the fund manager for the ₹20,000-crore Maritime Investment Fund (MIF). According to reports from The Economic Times, a formal mandate to manage the fund will be given to SBI Ventures soon, with the development expected to transform funding requirements for the maritime sector. SBI Ventures was selected through a bidding process where a consortium of Indian Infrastructure Finance Company and Climate Fund Managers was the only other contender.
The ₹20,000 crore Maritime Investment Fund is a key component of the ₹25,000 crore Maritime Development Fund approved by the Union Cabinet last year. As reported by The Economic Times, the union government will contribute 49% equity or ₹9,800 crore to the corpus through budgetary support, while the remaining 51% will be raised from private and commercial investors. The fund will be set up as a trust under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 and registered as a closed-end Category I/Category II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) with SEBI.
The fund will be structured to have multiple closes, with the first close to be achieved within 12 months from SEBI registration and an initial corpus of at least ₹5,000 crore. According to The Economic Times, the final close should be completed within 36 months from the first close, with an investment period of 5-8 years from the first closing. The fund will adopt a blended finance model to enhance availability of long-term, affordable and accessible capital for the maritime sector.
SBI Ventures is an alternative asset management company with assets under management of around ₹30,000 crores ($3.5 billion) and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of State Bank of India. As reported by The Economic Times, it serves as the investment manager for Neev Funds, SWAMIH Investment Fund and various Fund of Funds. The fund manager may also set up one or more feeder funds/fund of funds/co-investment vehicles in the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) GIFT City to pool investments by global investors.
