Indian debt financier Northern Arc Capital’s fund management unit, Northern Arc Investments, is considering launching a $100 million fund, reported Bloomberg on Tuesday.
The firm has started global roadshows for the fund that is expected to be launched by December, the report added. This will be the first foreign currency private debt fund of Northern Arc Investments.
Established in 2014, Northern Arc Investments manages over $260 million across seven debt alternative investment funds.
Northern Arc Capital, the firm’s parent company, had raised $25 million in external commercial borrowings (ECB) from AFD Group’s private sector financing arm, Proparco last year to support MSMEs and women entrepreneurs.
Dutch development bank FMO had proposed to extend a $50-million financing for Northern Arc Capital in June last year.
Incorporated in 2008, Northern Arc Capital provides debt access to under-banked individuals and businesses in India and has enabled over $13 billion of financing to over 400 partner institutions through over 160 domestic and global investors.
In 2021, Northern Arc Capital had raised Rs 100 crore in debt from Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. It is also backed by investors such as LeapFrog, IIFL, Accion, Augusta Investments (known as Affirma Capital), Dvara Trust and Eight Roads.
Among Northern Arc’s investees are digital e-mobility consumer lending platform RevFin, which raised $13 million in 2022 led by Northern Arc, LiquiLoans, and UK charity Shell Foundation among others. Kissht, an instant line of credit platform catering to the lower mass market and small and micro businesses in India, is also backed by Northern Arc Capital.