1 day Ago
Gaja Capital is planning to be the first standalone domestic private equity franchise in India to get listed via an initial public offering (IPO), according to people aware of the matter. The mid-market-focused investment firm that was the first PE investor in RBL Bank has engaged IIFL Capital to advise on the potential offering, preparations for which are underway, according to the people cited. It could target the filing of a draft red herring prospectus as early as December, they said.
The listing route is being considered to create a pool of permanent capital for use by the firm's general partners (GPs) or fund managers for objectives such as seeding new funds, according to the people in the know. Typically, when a private equity fund is floated, the GPs seek money from limited partners (LPs) or investors but also need to themselves offer seed money for the fund. GPs charge a management fee from LPs and also keep a share of profits from the investments of the fund.
Stock Trading RSI Trading Techniques: Mastering the RSI Indicator By - Dinesh Nagpal, Full Time Trader, Ichimoku & Trading Psychology Expert View Program Stock Trading Ichimoku Trading Unlocked: Expert Analysis and Strategy By - Dinesh Nagpal, Full Time Trader, Ichimoku & Trading Psychology Expert View Program Stock Trading Technical Trading Made Easy: Online Certification Course By - Souradeep Dey, Equity and Commodity Trader, Trainer View Program Stock Trading Derivative Analytics Made Easy By - Vivek Bajaj, Co Founder- Stockedge and Elearnmarkets View Program Stock Trading Introduction to Technical Analysis & Candlestick Theory By - Dinesh Nagpal, Full Time Trader, Ichimoku & Trading Psychology Expert View Program Stock Trading Macroeconomics Made Easy: Online Certification Course By - Anirudh Saraf, Founder- Saraf A & Associates, Chartered Accountant View Program Stock Trading Market 104: Options Trading: Kickstart Your F&O Adventure By - Saketh R, Founder- QuickAlpha, Full Time Options Trader View Program Stock Trading Complete Guide to Stock Market Trading: From Basics to Advanced By - Harneet Singh Kharbanda, Full Time Trader View Program Stock Trading Mastering Options Selling: Advanced Strategies for Success By - CA Manish Singh, Chartered Accountant, Professional Equity and Derivative Trader View Program Stock Trading Stock Markets Made Easy By - elearnmarkets, Financial Education by StockEdge View Program Stock Trading A2Z of Stock Market for Beginners: Stock Market Course For Beginners By - elearnmarkets, Financial Education by StockEdge View Program Stock Trading Futures Trading Made Easy: Future & Options Trading Course By - Anirudh Saraf, Founder- Saraf A & Associates, Chartered Accountant View Program Stock Trading Stock Valuation Made Easy By - Rounak Gouti, Investment commentary writer, Experience in equity research View Program Stock Trading Renko Chart Patterns Made Easy By - Kaushik Akiwatkar, Derivative Trader and Investor View Program Stock Trading Options Scalping Made Easy By - Sivakumar Jayachandran, Ace Scalper View Program ETMarkets.com These fees and profits flow into a management company that Gaja Capital will look to list, according to the sources. Gaja Capital was founded by IIT Delhi alumnus Gopal Jain in 2004.
HDFC Asset Management Co., which is also listed, announced the closure of its first private equity fund this year. Through this it will provide capital to private equity and venture capital funds and will not invest in companies directly.
Gaja Capital and IIFL did not respond to ET's queries. ET couldn't independently ascertain the size of Gaja Capital's potential public offering. Since its inception, Gaja Capital has raised upwards of $500 million through four funds and deployed it across 24 investments, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
However, its website does not provide exact figures. Globally, investment giants like KKR, Blackstone, Apollo Global Management and the Carlyle Group are listed. "PE firms may either take the fund manager entity public or list some of the funds," said Rajesh Gandhi, partner, Deloitte.
"Listing of the manager entity provides many benefits to the promoters including greater liquidity, talent attraction, expansion and exit strategy, brand value enhancement etc." Gaja Capital's successful investment bets include CL Educate (formerly Career Launcher), Teamlease, RBL Bank and John Distilleries. It got a 10-fold return on the Rs 75 crore investment it made in Teamlease in 2010.
It has bought and sold stakes in RBL Bank on three occasions between 2010 and 2020. It also bought and sold a stake in John Distilleries over the course of the past decade for a fourfold return on its investment. It sold its stake to Sazerac, the fourth-largest alcoholic beverage company in the US.
Its investment in bakery chain Theobroma is up for grabs. Recent investments Its more recent investments include an ₹800 crore co-investment in Weavers, a home finance company founded by former HDFC executives, and ₹175 crore in student housing startup Amber. It is also an investor in Massive Restaurants run by Zorawar Kalra and fashion brand Chumbak.
It also co-invested around ₹800 crore in ecommerce logistics firm Xpressbees along with Norwest Venture Partners and Investcorp four years ago. Gaja Capital's plans coincide with the growing heft of homegrown funds in the overall PE landscape in India. The share of domestic PE funds has risen from 4% of the total $19 billion invested in 2019 to 10% of the $16 billion in 2023, according to the India Private Equity Report 2024 released by Bain in collaboration with IVCA.
In the same period, PE funding by global investors has fallen to 50% from 58%. The average deal sizes of key domestic PE players have also doubled to $100 million in the same time frame. Their success has also led to larger capital raises.
Three domestic funds-Kedaara, ChrysCapital and Multiples-raised a total $5 billion in 2023, each 20-50% up from previous such efforts. Kedaara Capital, which raised $1.1 billion in 2021, closed its $1.
7 billion fund IV in April. ChrysCapital is in the process of raising a fund of close to $2 billion. (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel ).
