Vice President – Capital Partnerships

Naver, Brookfield accelerate $9b AI factory in Korea. Naver, a South Korea-based internet and technology company, and Brookfield Asset Management, an asset manager, said that they were speeding up work on a 1-gigawatt AI factory. Brookfield agreed to invest up to US$9 billion in the initial 200-megawatt phase at Naver's Gak Sejong data center in Sejong City. Naver said it is working with Nvidia on the first phase, which was expanded from an original plan of 55 megawatts plan. The project is expected to use about 100,000 Nvidia graphics processing units based on the Vera Rubin and Blackwell platforms. Brookfield said it would also support equipment procurement and customer acquisition. Gak Sejong is Naver's hyperscale data center in Sejong City and part of a 270-megawatt campus that opened in November 2023. Recent Naver developments. Stay updated on the go with our mobile app. Get latest insights with smoother, more personalized experience through TIA mobile app. How would you feel if you could no longer use Tech in Asia? Share, tag us, and land on our Wall of!

HSBC joins PEs in race for Nuvama Wealth. , ET Bureau Last Updated: Sep 01, 2026, 05:30:00 AM IST Asia-Pacific-focused private equity firm PAG, current owners of the listed financial services company, has revived attempts to sell the business after a year's gap. Non-binding bids also in from 6 funds for 54% worth $1.8 billion. Two more strategics expected to join. Mumbai: Europe's largest lender HSBC is competing with global private equity buyout groups to acquire Nuvama Wealth and Investment Ltd, said people in the know. Asia-Pacific-focused private equity firm PAG, current owners of the listed financial services company, has revived attempts to sell the business after a year's gap. HSBC is competing with at least half a dozen PE competitors including Brookfield, Warburg Pincus, EQT, CVC Capital, Permira, Chrys Capital and General Atlantic (GA) for the asset, said the people cited above. Investors are queuing up to tap into India's growing appetite for investment and spending, joining an increasingly competitive field. You May Like At least two more strategic players are expected to join the fray this week after the aforementioned entities submitted non-binding offers last week in what's turning out to be a rerun of events in 2025. A run-in with the Securities & Exchange Board of India impacted Nuvama's stock price last August. Volatility in scrip. This involved Jane Street, one of its key clients in the capital markets custodian business, and the regulatory cloud eventually tripped up the sale process. PAG relaunched the divestment of Nuvama, formerly Edelweiss Wealth Management, last month, reappointing advisors Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan. At its current market value of Rs 32,116 crore, PAG's 53.98% stake-held via Pagac Ecstasy Pte Ltd (53.12%) and Asia Pragati Strategic Investment Fund-is worth Rs 17,336 crore ($1.8 billion). The transaction will also trigger an open offer for an additional 26% of the company. Nuvama's shares have been volatile over the past year. On a split-adjusted basis, the stock rose from around Rs 1,200 in late August 2025 to about Rs 1,805 by August 28 this year, a gain of about 50%. After trading in the Rs 1,100-1,500 range, it rallied in April, hitting a 52-week high of Rs 2,067 in July. It closed Monday at Rs 1,753, down 2.9% from Friday's close. Last November, the company announced a 1:5 stock split that saw the face value revised to Rs 2 from Rs 10, while the authorized share capital remained unchanged at Rs 799.54 crore. PAG invested $325 million to acquire a majority stake in Edelweiss Wealth Management in March 2021 with the firm getting listed in 2023. Industry observers said the large cheque size for a listed company buyout is likely to nudge contenders to form consortiums. Both Chrys Capital and EQT for example had teamed up to buy Credilla, the education loan business of HDFC Ltd. Some candidates are also open to carving out certain pieces of the business-wealth and capital markets-instead of picking up all the multiple pieces that also include verticals such as asset services (clearing and custody), capital markets including institutional equities (IE) and investment banking (IB), and asset management. General Atlantic, Brookfield, EQT, HSBC and Permira declined to comment. Warburg Pincus, ChrysCapital and CVC Capital didn't respond to queries. PAG remained unreachable. Wealth effect. "So far, most of the candidates are common from last time except a few," said an executive whose company is in the fray. "But it's an expensive buy even after its stock split. Since last September, the stock price is up 37.21%. Even though the Jane Street issue has been dealt with and the company has derisked client concentration, the hypercompetitive landscape of wealth management will weigh in." Nuvama's wealth management segment has become its mainstay with client assets growing to Rs 5.36 lakh crore as of June 30. The group largely caters to affluent and high-networth individuals (HNIs), ultra HNIs (UHNIs), family offices and institutional clients, with products covering investment advisory and management, estate planning, lending and broking services. The asset services business, the second largest portfolio for the group at 30%, was pegged at Rs 1.59 lakh crore as of June 30. Three-fourths of these were assets under custody with the rest under clearing. It is also a prominent player in the institutional equities and investment banking businesses with a leading position in public debt issuances. However, the asset management business is at a relatively nascent stage, comprising alternate investment funds (AIFs) and portfolio management schemes (PMS). This business had an AUM of about Rs 13,261 crore as of June 30-up 12% from a year ago. Robust growth. "The wealth management business continues to see robust flows in the recurring revenue-earning segment," said Prayesh Jain, analyst at Motilal Oswal, earlier this month, following first-quarter results. India represents a significant long-term opportunity for wealth managers as rapid economic growth, rising incomes, entrepreneurship and financialisation of savings create a larger pool of investable wealth. Long seen as the number one player in Hong Kong, HSBC is keen to project its private banking brand into mainland China and neighbouring Asian countries to attract young entrepreneurs and wealthy clients. Most bulge-bracket PE funds - Blackstone, Bain, Carlyle, Advent, and KKR - have written large cheques to back companies in this space. General Atlantic was a major investor in 360 One WAM Ltd (formerly IIFL Wealth Management), a key competitor of Nuvama Wealth, owning a minority 21.6% stake before exiting in 2023. Last year, 360 One acquired UBS's onshore Indian wealth management business in a deal that also saw the Swiss financial giant take a minority 5% stake in the firm. According to a recent PwC report, India's asset and wealth management industry is projected to reach $1.7 trillion in assets under management by 2030, implying a compound annual growth rate of 11.6% since 2024.

Investments by PE/VC funds jump to $4.1 billion in July: Report. Representative image for private equity and venture capital funds' investments Private equity and venture capital funds' investments in India increased 3 per cent year-on-year to USD 4.1 billion in July, as per a report released on Monday. The investments were up from USD 4 billion recorded in July last year, and 52 per cent higher than USD 2.7 billion invested in the preceding month, the report by the consultant EY and industry grouping IVCA said. The number of deals in July 2026 at 111 was 7 per cent lower than the 119 transactions in July 2025, indicating a jump in ticket sizes, and were much higher than the 80 deals in June 2026, the report said. "India's macroeconomic fundamentals remain supportive of investment activity. With significant dry powder available across PE/VC (Private equity and venture capital) funds, deal-making is expected to accelerate further as geopolitical conditions stabilise," the consultancy firm's partner Vivek Soni said. July 2026 recorded 10 large deals totaling USD 2.8 billion or around 68 per cent of the total activity, it said, adding that Brookfield's USD 600 million bet in Lumara was the highest. Buyout investments accounted for the largest share of PE/VC activity in July 2026, with USD 1.4 billion deployed, which was a 176 per cent jump from the USD 511 million in July 2025 while credit investments ranked second, witnessing over USD 880 million getting invested. Investments into startups jumped 90 per cent on-year to USD 805 million in July 2026, the report noted. From a sectoral perspective, infrastructure led with USD 1.5 billion in investments, followed by financial services at USD 649 million and food and agriculture with USD 335 million, as per the report. There were 17 exits worth USD 1.6 billion compared to USD 9.2 billion across 26 exits in July 2025, the report said, reminding that the year-ago period saw Temasek's USD 6.4 billion exit from Schneider Electric. PE and VC funds raised USD 2.5 billion across eight fund raises in July as against USD 1.5 billion in the year-ago period. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)