Kotak’s alternative-assets arm raises $120 million for equity fund

Kotak Mahindra Group’s alternative-asset management arm Kotak Alternate Asset Managers has raised about ₹1,000 crore ($120 million) for its open-ended fund to invest in Indian equities.

Kotak Iconic Fund, a category-III alternative investment fund (AIF), invests in equities with varied market capitalisation through diversified active and passive strategies.

“The journey to ₹1,000 crore in AUM (assets under management) has been marked by unwavering dedication, resilience, and the trust of investors who have chosen Kotak Iconic as their preferred investment vehicle in the Indian equities space,” said Lakshmi Iyer, chief executive officer, investments and strategy, Kotak Alternate Asset Managers.

Nishant Kumar, head of discretionary portfolio solutions at Kotak Alternate Asset, added that the open-ended fund focusses on strategic selection, allocation and performance monitoring.

The fund will accept inflow from regions including the US, UK, Singapore, DIFC (Dubai International Finance Centre) and Hong Kong for non-residents to access Indian equity markets.

The group’s alternative-asset management business, under the brands Kotak Optimus and Kotak Iconic, offers multi-asset and equity discretionary portfolio solutions to both resident and non-resident investors.

In September, Kotak’s alternative-asset management arm topped up its investment in Sify Infinit Spaces by investing ₹600 crore in the subsidiary of Sify Technologies. The transaction took Kotak Alternative Asset Managers’ total investment in the data centre firm to ₹1,600 crore. It had previously invested about ₹1,000 crore in the company via Kotak Special Situations Fund.

In February, Kotak Asset Managers marked the first close of the $800-million Kotak Data Centre fund at $590 million. The fund will invest in building data centre capacity to support the data-backed digital economy, enterprise cloud, 5G and IoT (internet of things). The fund is domiciled in Gujarat’s GIFT City.

The Kotak Mahindra Group announced last month that it would combine its alternative fund management and investment advisory businesses into an entity named Kotak Alternate Asset Managers Limited with $18 billion in assets under management.