ICICI Venture divests partial stake in Go Fashion

ICICI Venture, the alternative asset arm of ICICI Bank, on Tuesday said it has divested half of its 13.5 per cent stake in the recently concluded IPO of Go Fashion (India) Ltd, which owns women's wear brand Go Colors.

ICICI Venture, through its fourth private equity fund India Advantage Fund Series 4 (IAF4), had invested Rs 100 crore in Go Fashion for 13.5 per cent stake in 2018.

Through the stake dilution, the alternative asset firm made five times return in its investment made in Go Fashion, ICICI Venture said in a statement.

The initial public offering (IPO) of the company had received a strong response from investors with the issue being oversubscribed 135 times.

The company had a strong listing on the exchanges on Tuesday and based on the listed share price, the residual stake of IAF4 in the company is valued at around nine times, it added.

"We are pleased to have supported the company in its growth journey of the last 4 years, during which Go Fashion emerged as India's largest women's legwear brand, achieved 3x growth in owned store footprint, an excellent revenue scale up and increase in profit margins. We believe the company is well placed for further growth going forward," said Puneet Nanda, MD and CEO, ICICI Venture.

Earlier this year, another IAF4 portfolio company, Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences or KIMS Hospitals, also had a successful IPO.

In 2019, ICICI Venture had successfully exited from Star Health and Allied Insurance from two of its PE funds to a consortium of financial and strategic investors.

ICICI Venture has had a successful track record of exits having successfully concluded over 70 exit deals worth about USD 2.25 billion in the last decade. This is believed to be amongst the highest exit tallies in India.