Renuka Ramnath: Conquering the PE world

As Renuka Ramnath, 53, gets ready to launch her second fund to raise $500 million under the banner of Multiples Alternate Asset Management, bankers say it will not be difficult for her to sell the fund as the performance of the first fund was far above expectations. Most of her bets have been in an assortment of firms and investors say they are happy with the fund's performance.

Ramnath entered the private equity (PE) space in 2001 with ICICI Venture when PE as an asset class was in its infancy in India. As the head of ICICI Venture, she transformed it from a proprietary fund having less than $100 million under management into a fund with third-party capital managing over $2 billion.

She set up Multiples Alternate Asset Management in 2009, which is managing $500 million of assets as of now. "She runs a trim and lean organisation and has a hands-off policy in the companies where her fund has invested in. That way, there is better understanding between the fund and the companies where the investments has been made," says a banker.

FACT SHEET

• Key investments: India Energy Exchange, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company, South Indian Bank, PVR Cinemas
• Investment philosophy: Make long-term private equity investments in mid-sized Indian firms either by taking minority equity to provide growth capital or by taking a controlling stake

Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, joint managing director, PVR, says, "In 2003 when Australia's Village Roadshow had decided to pull out of India, to honour the commitments of PVR, Ramnath invested about $8 million for a 38 per cent stake. That put us on the growth path... Later in 2013, when we were evaluating the Cinemax acquisition, Ramnath not only guided us on how to structure the deal, but also showed her faith by investing close to Rs 150 crore to help finance it. PVR became the largest multiplex chain with this deal."

In ICICI Venture, she was involved with raising, managing, investing and the divesting the $250-million India Advantage Fund during 2003-2008. The fund gave three times return, a notable achievement in an industry largely considered a male bastion. Among her early investments are Air Deccan and Pantaloon. She is also credited for India's first buyout when ICICI Venture bought Tata Infomedia. Her decision to sell ICICI Venture's stake in retail firm Subhiksha to Azim Premji's PremjiInvest led to a lot of acrimony between ICICI Venture and Premji. As Subhiksha imploded in 2009, Premji took the fund and Subhiksha to court but did not get any relief.

Ramnath soon left ICICI Venture and decided to set up her own fund. She raised $405 million from 15 institutional investors across the globe in 2010 as the maiden fund for Multiples. This included Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which committed $100 million as she bet on a 25 per cent return from the fund's investments.

Ramnath expects her second fund to have an investment size of Rs 200-250 crore. She did not reply to a detailed questionnaire as she was travelling abroad.

As Ramnath markets her second fund abroad, all eyes will be on how the leading lady of Indian private equity sector pulls this off.