NRI investors sue ICICI Venture over losses

A group of 69 non-resident Indian investors on 28 October 2014 had sued ICICI Venture at the Supreme Court in Mauritius.

The investors seek to obtain 103 million US dollar in damages over alleged losses on their investments in a property fund run by the private equity firm.  The group also sued ICICI Bank, the Dynamic India III fund trustee Western India Trustee and Executor Co, and the administrator of the fund, International Financial Services.

Investors stand
The investors claimed that they had suffered huge losses on their investments in the Dynamic India Fund III run by ICICI Venture. It further claimed that the fund was incorporated in Mauritius before nine years and till now only one of its 13 projects in India had been completed as of March 2014. The investors said the fund had invested in real estate projects that flopped miserably, instead of world class ones as the marketing teams promised.

The group, which filed its lawsuit in July 2014, accused the fund of engaging in total neglect of due diligence of under-estimating cost and completion time of projects and of also engaging in overt manipulation of the finances to escalate costs.

ICICI stand
The ICICI Venture denied the allegations. It maintained that it had extended the lifespan of the Dynamic India Fund III by three years. It had also offered investors a cash exit option that was in line with global best practices.

The allegations levelled by a set of investors, constituting only 12% of the investors in the concerned funds, are totally baseless, not supported by facts and are malicious. However, the investors have urged the court to order the respondents to pay them jointly 103 million US dollar together with interest.