| Private equity firm General Atlantic, which manages over $15 billion globally entered India in 2002, and has invested nearly $1 billion so far in India. The firm, which was one of the earliest global private investment firms in India, has appointed Ranjit V Pandit, the ex-chairman of McKinsey & Company India, as managing director of its India office. Abhay Havaldar and Ranjit V Pandit, managing directors of General Atlantic LLC India, spoke to Reena Zachariah about their fund's strategy for India. |
| How important is India as a market for General Atlantic? |
| AH: India is the largest market that constitutes a significant part of our portfolio. We are basically growth investors. This year of all the total investments we make globally ($1.5-2 billion) we will invest 15-20 per cent of that in India. |
| Will you be scaling up your Indian team further or the present size it right? |
| AH: As our portfolio grows, we will recruit more people but at present we have a right team size. |
| How many companies have you exited from so far? Are you happy with your exit from Sharekhan? |
| AH: We have invested in ten companies including NSE, Hexaware, NDTV, Genpact, Patni and have exited out of two of them (Daksh and Sharekhan). We just don't invest capital into our companies but we engage with the company. |
| We buy shares through the primary issuance of the company but we don't buy shares from other investors. We exited Sharekhan as the promoters were very keen on coming out of the business and so we also chose to exit. |
| Are you looking to exit Patni? |
| AH: We have no such plans to exit but as a financial investor we will consider it if the price is attractive. |
| Are you planning to launch any India dedicated fund? |
| AH: No we have no such plans as our model is to invest out of our capital globally since GA is not a fund structure. |
| Which are sectors you find attractive? |
| AH: The outsourcing space, communications & electronics, media & consumer, financial services, trade and logistics are some of the areas we find interesting for investment. We have also being investors in many exchanges (securities market and commodity) globally. The firm's investment size ranges from $50-400 million in equity. We stay invested in our portfolio companies on an average basis 5-7 years. |
| What is your target for India? |
| AH: We are very opportunistic as and when good investment opportunities arise we look at it but we don't keep as such any set targets to achieve. |
| What has prompted you to move out from a consultancy firm? |
| RP: This is an extension of the that... as many GA investment professionals have consulting backgrounds and also the way GA works is very much similar to the way McKinsey operates. |
| What will be the portfolio you will be handling? |
| RP: I'll work across areas such as fund raising, investment strategy and adding value to our portfolio companies and advising the global portfolio. |
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