Excel India Trust announced that it has completed an initial public offering of 4.5 million units of the trust at a price of $10 per unit, yielding gross proceeds of $45 million. The units began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange today under the symbol EXI.UN.

The trust has granted the agents for the offering an over-allotment option to acquire additional units exercisable at any time during the next 30 days.

The trust has been designed to provide investors with the exposure of equity securities of Indian companies. It uses an efficient tax structure designed to minimize Indian withholding taxes on capital gains and avoid certain investment restrictions that would otherwise apply to foreign investors investing in India.

The Trust’s investment objectives are: to provide holders of units with quarterly distributions (initially targeted to be 12.5ยข a unit per quarter or 5% per year based on the offering price of $10 a unit); and long-term capital appreciation.

The syndicate of agents for this offering was co-led by CIBC World Markets Inc. and RBC Capital Markets, and included BMO Capital Markets, National Bank Financial Inc., Scotia Capital Inc., TD Securities Inc., Canaccord Capital Corp., Dundee Securities Corp., HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc., Raymond James Ltd., Desjardins Securities Inc., Berkshire Securities Inc., Blackmont Capital Inc., IPC Securities Corp., Richardson Partners Financial Limited and Wellington West Capital Inc.

Excel Funds Management Inc. is a specialized fund management company that focuses exclusively on investment opportunities in emerging markets. It currently has approximately $600 million in assets under management.