Sell-downs, IPOs dominate private equity exits in November, shows data

November proved to be a good month for private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) funds as far as exits via initial public offerings (IPOs) and sell-downs in listed firms were concerned.

The month recorded six PE-backed IPOs worth $361 million.

Meanwhile, PE investors sold shares in 13 listed firms worth $857 million, according to a report by the Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association (IVCA) and EY.

The share sales were mainly based on the expiry of the subsequent IPO lock-in period in several marquee start-ups.

“November 2022 saw a return of PE-backed IPOs, with as many as six IPOs - the biggest being that of Five Star Business Finance with an offer for sale of $246 million, in which Sequoia, Norwest Venture Partners, Matrix, and TPG exited 14.2 per cent stake,” IVCA-EY said in a note.

Overall, November 2022 recorded 29 PE/VC exits worth $1.8 billion, compared with $3.1 billion chronicled in November 2021 across 21 deals.

In October, $1.6 billion worth of exits were documented across 15 deals.

Last month, the Sensex and the Nifty registered new lifetime highs, surpassing their previous record in October 2021. Regarding the number of IPOs, November was the best month of Calendar 2022 with 10 deals.