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Business Standard
03-07-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Private credit deals gaining momentum in India, says Cerberus MD Ghosh
The market is warming to large private credit deals in India, where local borrowers are typically less levered than their peers in the rest of Asia, according to Indranil Ghosh, managing director and head of pan-Asia special situations at Cerberus Capital Management. Cerberus, which has $65 billion under management globally, was among the anchor investors in Shapoorji Pallonji Group's $3.4 billion financing, the country's largest private credit deal to date. While deals of that scale are still a rarity, growing capital needs and relatively low leverage are building lenders' confidence in financing larger Indian deals, Ghosh said. Deals this year are already picking up. KKR Inc. inked its largest ever credit investment in India with a $600 million financing for conglomerate Manipal Group. And Indian clean energy producer Greenko Energy Holdings signed a $650 million private credit deal to buy back a stake in the company. Even three years ago, seeing multiple Indian deals larger than $100 million would've been unthinkable, Ghosh said. 'We expect this trend to continue as Indian companies have significant capital needs,' said Ghosh. A major draw for global investors like Cerberus has been Indian companies' balance sheets. On average the loan-to-value ratio among Indian private credit borrowers, which measures the size of a financing against its collateral, is about 40 per cent, Ghosh said. 'In the rest of Asia, and even in developed markets, the gauge would be over 60 per cent,' he added. Lower ratios give investors confidence they'll be repaid if borrowers are required to sell assets. Shapoorji's deal, for instance, closed at a loan-to-value ratio of about 16 per cent, one of the key factors that attracted global lenders like Ares Management Corp and Farallon Capital Management. Despite the market's growth, deal sizes in India, and Asia more broadly, still pale in comparison to more established private credit markets in the US and Europe. The region only accounts for about 7 per cent of the global market, according to a March PwC report, and lenders still tend to focus on smaller, higher-yielding or distressed deals. A rush of new local private credit funds setting up shop in India see this as an opportunity. Motilal Oswal Financial Services is opening its first private credit fund, and Kotak Alternate Asset Managers Ltd. has plans to raise as much as $2 billion, targeting returns between 18 per cent and 20 per cent. Even the government is piling in — with India's quasi-sovereign fund, the National Investment & Infrastructure Fund, planning to raise as much as $2 billion in its latest private credit fund, backed by global investors including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The Trump administration's tariffs could also be a tailwind for India, as several asset allocators are 'increasingly exploring ways to diversify' into other parts of the global economy, said Ghosh. Challenges Remain Ghosh said he could see some asset quality issues for small- and mid-sized corporates with cyclical businesses or governance issues, but he does not anticipate any imminent large-scale defaults in Indian private credit. That's because most of the larger deals are backed by high-quality sponsors with strong assets and access to multiple sources of liquidity, he said. 'Indian large and mid-sized companies have significantly raised their governance standards when compared to 10 years ago,' he said. But when deals do go south, the avenues for resolution in India can be a deterrent to global capital. India technically limits corporate insolvency proceedings to 330 days, but the courts and lenders have grappled with perennial delays.
Mint
03-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
India Warming to Larger Private Credit Deals, Cerberus Says
(Bloomberg) -- The market is warming to large private credit deals in India, where local borrowers are typically less levered than their peers in the rest of Asia, according to Indranil Ghosh, managing director and head of pan-Asia special situations at Cerberus Capital Management. Cerberus, which has $65 billion under management globally, was among the anchor investors in Shapoorji Pallonji Group's $3.4 billion financing, the country's largest private credit deal to date. While deals of that scale are still a rarity, growing capital needs and relatively low leverage are building lenders' confidence in financing larger Indian deals, Ghosh said. Deals this year are already picking up. KKR Inc. inked its largest ever credit investment in India with a $600 million financing for conglomerate Manipal Group. And Indian clean energy producer Greenko Energy Holdings signed a $650 million private credit deal to buy back a stake in the company. Even three years ago, seeing multiple Indian deals larger than $100 million would've been unthinkable, Ghosh said. 'We expect this trend to continue as Indian companies have significant capital needs,' said Ghosh. A major draw for global investors like Cerberus has been Indian companies' balance sheets. On average the loan-to-value ratio among Indian private credit borrowers, which measures the size of a financing against its collateral, is about 40%, Ghosh said. 'In the rest of Asia, and even in developed markets, the gauge would be over 60%,' he added. Lower ratios give investors confidence they'll be repaid if borrowers are required to sell assets. Shapoorji's deal, for instance, closed at a loan-to-value ratio of about 16%, one of the key factors that attracted global lenders like Ares Management Corp and Farallon Capital Management. Despite the market's growth, deal sizes in India, and Asia more broadly, still pale in comparison to more established private credit markets in the US and Europe. The region only accounts for about 7% of the global market, according to a March PwC report, and lenders still tend to focus on smaller, higher-yielding or distressed deals. A rush of new local private credit funds setting up shop in India see this as an opportunity. Motilal Oswal Financial Services is opening its first private credit fund, and Kotak Alternate Asset Managers Ltd. has plans to raise as much as $2 billion, targeting returns between 18% and 20%. Even the government is piling in — with India's quasi-sovereign fund, the National Investment & Infrastructure Fund, planning to raise as much as $2 billion in its latest private credit fund, backed by global investors including the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. The Trump administration's tariffs could also be a tailwind for India, as several asset allocators are 'increasingly exploring ways to diversify' into other parts of the global economy, said Ghosh. Ghosh said he could see some asset quality issues for small- and mid-sized corporates with cyclical businesses or governance issues, but he does not anticipate any imminent large-scale defaults in Indian private credit. That's because most of the larger deals are backed by high-quality sponsors with strong assets and access to multiple sources of liquidity, he said. 'Indian large and mid-sized companies have significantly raised their governance standards when compared to 10 years ago,' he said. But when deals do go south, the avenues for resolution in India can be a deterrent to global capital. India technically limits corporate insolvency proceedings to 330 days, but the courts and lenders have grappled with perennial delays. Improving those mechanisms is a requirement for many global investors still on the sidelines, who 'dislike lingering debt resolution processes,' Ghosh said. More stories like this are available on
Irish Times
05-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Firm behind Project Eagle loan portfolio to be wound up
Directors of the company at the centre of the National Asset Management Agency 's (Nama) controversial Project Eagle deal expect to wind it up next year, according to its latest accounts. Promontoria Eagle, the company used by US investor Cerberus Capital Management to buy loans to mostly Northern Ireland-based borrowers from Nama in 2014, collected £526,606 (€626,000) from those debts last year, returns to the Republic's Companies' Registration Office show. Directors Donal O'Sullivan and David Greene state that the company expects to collect the outstanding loans within 12 months from May of this year, when they signed Promontoria Eagle's latest accounts, after which time the company will no longer be active. 'As a result it is the intention of the directors to wind down and liquidate the company following the realisation of the company's remaining assets,' they say. READ MORE [ Nama criticised over handling of 'success fee' in €1.6 billion Project Eagle sale after seven-year inquiry Opens in new window ] 'The directors expect this to occur within 12 months from the approval of the financial statements.' The accounts show that Promontoria Eagle lost £592,702 last year, following a profit of £362,850 in 2023. Cerberus paid Nama €1.6 billion for Northern Ireland-linked property loans worth a total of €6 billion in April 2014, giving the US investment giant the right to collect the debts or take ownership of the assets against which they were secured. Following a Dáil Committee of Public Accounts inquiry sparked by a row over the deal, the State's Comptroller and Auditor General found that Nama could have secured €220 million more for the loans. However, a subsequent commission of inquiry headed by solicitor Susan Gilvarry found the agency got the best price available. Cerberus was an active buyer of property loans from banks and Nama in the years following a financial crash in 2008 that threatened to leave the State insolvent. The US firm generally channelled finance to Irish companies established to hold the loans, such as Promontoria Eagle, through subsidiaries in the Netherlands. Cerberus used a combination of its own cash and loans from international banks to pay for its Irish activities. It then loaned this money to its companies in the Republic, allowing it take advantage of tax breaks on interest repayments given to property holding companies. The Oireachtas subsequently changed the law to end those tax breaks. Controversy erupted over Project Eagle in 2015, when it emerged that Ian Coulter, managing partner of Belfast solicitors' firm Tughans, transferred €7 million in fees from the transaction to an Isle of Man bank account without his firm's knowledge. Mr Coulter transferred the cash back to the firm and resigned, leading to claims that political and business figures in the North were to benefit from the cash. The row led to a criminal investigation in the North and the Committee of Public Accounts inquiry in the Republic.
Bloomberg
02-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Cerberus CFO Deirdre O'Connor to Depart, Replaced by Andrew Leitten
Cerberus Capital Management 's Chief Financial Officer Deirdre O'Connor has departed the investment management firm, according to people familiar with the matter. Andrew Leitten, a finance director who has been at Cerberus for more than 14 years, will become CFO, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing a private matter.
Epoch Times
28-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
Trump-Linked US Firm Circles Port of Darwin Amid Calls to End 99-Year Chinese Lease
U.S. investment firm Cerberus Capital Management, which is linked to the Trump administration, has shown interest in taking over the Chinese-leased Port of Darwin. Before the federal election on May 3, both the Albanese government and the federal opposition pledged to take back the port from the Beijing-linked company, Landbridge. 'We've been informally engaging with potential buyers for some time,' Prime Minister Anthony Albanese On May 28, Terry O'Connor, Landbridge's non-executive director for Australia, confirmed that a representative from Cerberus had met with Darwin Port's management, but had not made an offer for the asset. 'In that meeting [Cerberus] expressed interest about potential investment in the port, given that the company had a fairly high investment portfolio around the world,' he told the ABC. 'There's certainly been no prices negotiated [for the port], no prices even discussed or raised. 'We would see Cerberus's interest as the same level of interest as we've received from multiple other companies who have talked to the port [management] over the past couple of months.' In 2015, the Northern Territory's then-Country Liberal Party government leased the port to Landbridge on a 99 year deal valued at $506 million. The agreement raised national security concerns, including from former U.S. President Barack Obama, prompting the Turnbull Liberal government to strengthen asset sale regulations through the Foreign Investment Review Board. Who is Cerberus? Known for its expertise in distressed asset acquisitions, Cerberus Capital Management manages approximately $65 billion in assets, spanning sectors such as military, automotive, real estate, and aviation. In March, the U.S. Senate In this capacity, Feinberg will serve as the Department of Defense's chief operating officer, overseeing day-to-day management and executing the Secretary of Defense's strategic priorities. Xiao Qian, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Ambassador to Australia, issued a strong rebuke of the Australian government's plan to reclaim the port lease. 'It is ethically questionable to lease the port when it was unprofitable and then seek to reclaim it once it becomes profitable,' he said in a statement published on his website on May 25. This statement came days after his trip to Darwin, where he visited the port, met with staff at Landbridge, and took questions from both Chinese and Australian media. The Epoch Times has reached out to Landbridge, the Prime Minister's Office, and the Northern Territory government for comment.
