Cera Sanitaryware is raising over R70 Cr issuing 3.51 lakh equity shares to Lighthouse’s second fund, India 2020 Fund II. The shares are being issued at a unit price of R2011.5, post which Lighthouse would hold 2.8% in the company.

It is also seeking to increase the aggregate limit of FIIs holding in the Company from 24% to 36%.

As on the end of last quarter, the major public shareholders of the company include Westbridge, through Jwalamukhi Holding (7.37%), Nalanda India (2.94%), Steadview Capital (1.75%) among others.

Cera Sanitary, promoted by Vikram Somany, is into manufacturing of ceramic sanitary ware (having an installed capacity of 2.70 Mn pieces per annum), faucet ware (installed capacity of 3,000 pieces per day) as on March 31, 2014 and trading of sanitary ware, faucet ware, ceramic tiles, kitchen sinks and bath wellness products.

Lighthouse’s second fund India 2020 Fund is backed by Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and IFC among others. The fund invests nearly $5-15 Mn per investment for acquiring minority stakes in its target entities operating in consumer facing sectors including healthcare and education, as well as rural consumption and agribusiness.

The fund is targeting $125-150 Mn (about R750-900 Cr) corpus to invest in mid-sized Indian companies.

Lighthouse has previously backed Bangalore-based biscuit maker Unibic and Rajasthan-based snacks firm Bikaji Foods.
The new fund is a successor to India 2020 Fund I, which raised a $100 million corpus in 2008.

(As published in DealCurry 29th Jan 2015)