Aditya Birla Capital Limited and Värde Partners announced an exclusive strategic partnership to pursue investments in stressed and distressed assets in India. Operating through a joint platform, both parties will evaluate investments across sectors, focusing on the acquisition, restructuring and resolution of the substantial supply of non-performing assets in India as well as special situations financings. Given the current landscape and further prospects in asset reconstruction in India, ABCL and Värde believe there is an attractive pipeline for strong capital deployment opportunities over the next several years. On receipt of necessary approvals, both parties will jointly own and control the platform, which will leverage ABCL’s expertise in the financial services domain, the Aditya Birla Group’s wide operational experience across sectors and Värde’s established capabilities in global credit and value investing strategies. Värde currently manages about USD 14 billion globally, and has invested nearly USD 500 million in India in the past five years across corporate stressed, distressed, special situations and lending assets. With regional headquarters established in Singapore in 2008, Värde expects to open its fifth Asia office in Mumbai later this year, subject to regulatory approvals.