Neo Asset Management raises Rs 600 cr for maiden fund

Neo Asset Management on Wednesday said it has raised Rs 600 crore for its maiden fund from domestic high networth individuals (HNIs) and multi-family offices.

The private credit fund — Neo Special Credit Opportunities Fund was launched in June. It is a category II alternative investment fund (AIF) that was aiming to raise Rs 800 crore with a green shoe option of Rs 1,200 crore, it said in a statement. The fund will be used for providing customised credit solutions to EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) positive companies that cannot be catered to by traditional channels of financing. It will make 15-20 investments across sectors.

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“Private credit in India is at an inflection point, and we see this asset class evolving significantly similar to global markets. Neo Asset Management endeavours to fulfil the need of patient, flexible credit requirements of corporate India. This will have a sustainable impact on the investee companies and their ecosystems,” Hemant Daga, CEO, Neo Asset Management, said.

For investors, private credit funds offer a great opportunity for portfolio diversification and yield enhancement with significant downside protection, he added. Globally, some of the world’s largest funds are private credit funds managing more than USD 100 billion of assets. Neo Asset Management is an alternative asset management arm of Neo Group, set up by the finance industry veteran Nitin Jain.