Gaurav Mathur launches InVent Capital

Formal launch only after two-three months due to a non-compete deal with IEP management

A month after quitting the $350-million India Equity Partners (IEP), its founder and former managing director Gaurav Mathur, has launched a private equity (PE) fund, InVent Capital.

According to people in the know, Mathur launched the fund two weeks ago, but the formal launch will happen only after two-three months due to a non-compete agreement with IEP management. IEP was founded in 2005 by Mathur. Its other team members are Anurag Bhargava, Sid Khanna, and Steven Wisch.

Following Mathur’s departure, IEP’s New York-based managing partner Wisch will shift to an advisor’s role.

According to people in the know, Mathur plans to raise a $60-75 million buyout fund under InVent Capital. He plans to do $15-20 million control transactions in areas of consumer and service sectors in India. The team will comprise an operating partner and two or three analysts, it is learnt.

When contacted, Mathur refused to comment on his new fund.

Before founding IEP, Mathur was a principal with JPMorgan Partners (JPMP) in Singapore, where he managed JPMP’s Indian PE portfolio. Prior to JPMP, he had worked as analyst with the high-yield capital markets group at Deutsche Bank in London.

Mathur who serves on the boards of Ocean Sparkle, Ikya HR Services and A2Z Maintenance & Engineering Services Pvt Ltd, has a management degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

In the recent past, IEP made decent returns from exiting its portfolios such as Manappuram Finance (more than six times) and Ikya (three times), an HR outsourcing company that was sold out to Thomas Cook.

Similar to Mathur-Sid Khanna split up, key persons at Baring Private Equity Partners — Rahul Bhasin and Subbu Subramaniam who joined hands to set up the fund in 1998, had split due to differences in 2009. Following the split, Subramaniam floated a $60-million fund under MCap Fund Advisors.

However, a few India-focused fund managers see a silver lining in PE fundraising this year, after two years of struggling. According to data till date, six India-focused funds have raised about $800 million.

Last year had seen a decline of 42 per cent in fund raising, compared with 2011. In 2012, as many as 49 funds raised about $2.9 billion, compared with 39 funds worth $5.2 billion in 2011, according to data from VCCEdge.