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'India best place outside US for investment'

Warburg Pincus, India's largest equity investor, on Monday termed the country as "the best place outside the United States to invest in the world."

Warbug Pincus said in a media release in Mumbai that India's steady move to market-based economy and successful efforts to deregulate key industrial sectors continues to make the country attractive to US private equity firms.

"Our ability to have a final closing of $5.3 billion in a difficult economic environment merely reaffirms the sustainability of the Warburg Pincus business model," said Dalip Pathak, a Warburg Pincus Managing Director.

"I am personally delighted, because the raising of this new fund will continue to provide us with the resources, if and when we need them, to continue building our franchise in India, which is one of our key markets."

"India's steady move to a market-based economy and successful efforts to deregulate key industrial sectors continues to make the country attractive to US private equity firms," said W Bowman Cutter, a Warburg Pincus Managing Director who was involved in fund raising activities for WP VIII. "We hate to reveal our secrets but we believe India's extraordinary dynamism has created an environment which makes India, arguably, the best place outside the United States to invest in the world," Cutter said, noting that Warburg Pincus is the largest private equity investor in India.

Since 1971, Warburg Pincus has invested approximately $12.2 billion in 450 companies in 29 countries. The firm currently has approximately $10 billion under management, with an additional $7.5 billion available for investment.

In Asia, Warburg Pincus has invested more than $1.5 billion since 1994.

Warburg Pincus has invested over $670 million in Indian companies - its biggest exposure in the Asia-Pacific region. The firm's key investments in India include Apar Infotech, Bharti Tele-Ventures, Gujarat Ambuja Cement, HDFC, Moser Baer, Nicholas Piramal and Venture Infotek.

Warburg Pincus is one of the largest private equity investment firms in the world. Working in partnership with management teams, Warburg Pincus has taken an active role in building businesses, including companies such as Mattel Inc, United Healthcare, RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd, Dime Bancorp Inc, Mellon Bank Corporation, Knoll, Inc, BEA Systems and VERITAS Software Corp.

Warburg Pincus' domestic and international investments are focused in a range of industry sectors including business technology and services, financial services, communications, healthcare and life sciences, information technology, media, natural resources and real estate.

Throughout its 30-year history in private equity, Warburg Pincus has invested at all stages of a company's life cycle, from founding start-ups and providing growth capital to leading restructurings, recapitalisations and buy-outs.

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