)
The exit of private equity (PE) firms from their investee companies increased 38 percent in the first quarter ended June 2013, with exits in 29 Indian co mpanies as against 21 during the same quarter of last year, according to Venture Intelligence.
The research firm said the sale of shares in already listed companies through the public markets accounted for nine exits during April to June 2013 as compared with four in the same period of 2012. Of the exits during the quarter ended June, 2013, there were 21 complete exits while the remaining were partial.
There were seven strategic acquisitions during the quarter as against six in the same period last year. Secondary sales (a PE firm acquiring shares from another PE firm) accounted for six exits as against seven during the period. Buybacks stood at six as compared with four last year. However, these exclude exits in the real estate segment.
The only PE-backed IPO during the quarter, that of JustDial, provided a healthy exit for its investors, including SAIF, Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital India and SAP Ventures whose sale of shares comprised over 80 per cent of the Rs 927.37 crore ($167.11 million) issue.
"At the IPO price, SAIF was sitting on an over 10 times return on its investment; Tiger Global with 7.3 times; Sequoia Capital India, over 2 times and SAP Ventures, 1.3 times. The JustDial IPO marks the second successful Indian 'internet play' brought to the public markets by SAIF, following the Nasdaq IPO of MakeMyTrip in August 2010," it said.
The shares, which provided JustDial a market capitalisation of $667 million at the IPO price of Rs 530, were trading 20 per cent higher at the end of the quarter.
The largest public market sale fetching a complete exit was by TPG through its sale of shares worth Rs 1,652-crore in truck finance firm Shriram Transport Finance Company (STFC). Another complete exit through the public market during the quarter was by Warburg Pincus from Havells India with returns of about 2.5 times on its Rs 484-crore investment made in October 2007.
The partial exits through the public market route include Apax Partners selling Rs 128-crore worth of shares in Apollo Hospitals and ICICI Venture and Norwest selling their holdings in non banking finance company Shriram City Union Finance.
In venture capital exits, the strategic sale of online bus ticketing service firm RedBus to South Africa-based Naspwers for $100 million was one of the major deals. RedBus raised about $9.3 million from investors including Seedfund, Inventus Capital and Helion Ventures, from July 2007.
The real estate sector witnessed five buybacks by promoters. IL&FS Investment Managers (IIML) sold its stake in Bhartiya City, a 125-acre integrated township project in Bangalore, for Rs 325-crore. IIML had invested Rs 150-crore for a 26 per cent stake in 2007 by way of compulsorily convertible preference shares.
