Private equity company Sequoia Capital India is eyeing 10-15 deals across several sectors, Sandeep Singhal, the company’s managing director, said in an interview today.
“We are currently evaluating these deals. We may not invest in any of these companies or may invest in more than one depending on how attractive the opportunity is,” he sad.
Sequoia Capital India, which was formed after merging WestBridge Capital Partners with Silicon Valley-based Sequoia in 2006, currently manages three venture capital, early-stage and two private equity growth funds. The private equity company recently raised $725 million under its second growth fund, Sequoia Capital India Growth Fund II. This takes the total funds under management to around $1.8 billion.
It mostly invests in companies focused on consumer products and services, financial services and infrastructure.
From diagnostics and pathology services company Dr Lal PathLabs, market research and analytics firm MarketRx to Cafe Coffee Day, Edelweiss Capital, Firstsource Solutions and Idea Cellular, Sequoia Capital India has nearly 45 companies in its portfolio.
“Nearly $700 million out of $1.8 billion has already been deployed across different companies,” Singhal said.
With the sentiment on the Street still subdued as a result of the markets having corrected around 30 per cent from the peak of January, Singhal feels the valuations are at much more realistic levels compared with the last year’s.
“In a good year, we could invest in 25-30 companies and in a bad year there could be only 10 deals. Bear markets are a good time to invest,” Singhal added.
