DFJ sells India assets to NewQuest

The sale involves holdings in between eight and 10 companies. The deal size has not been disclosed but The Times of India reported that DFJ put a portfolio of nearly a dozen companies up for sale with a total asset value of $60 million in 2013, after closing its local office. A source familiar with the transaction told AVCJ it was "fairly priced for the seller and highly complex."

The companies involved include Bharat Light & Power, Attero Recycling, Canvera Digital Technologies, and travel portal Cleartrip, among others. The portfolio is reasonably mature, with DFJ restricting itself to follow-on rounds for existing portfolio companies for the last five years. Of the active investments listed on the firm's website, the most recent commitment to a new company was Bharat Light & Power in 2011.

DFJ's other India portfolio companies are solar specialist D.Light Design, digital media business LiveMedia, technology support services provider iYogi, mobile advertising business RevX, and digital marketing company Komli Media. The latter's India assets were sold to industry peer SVG Media in August 2015.

Mohanjit Jolly, who opened DFJ'a India office in 2007 and is listed as the partner responsible for the remaining portfolio companies in the country, left the firm earlier this year. He is now a partner at Iron Pillar, an early-stage investor established by former Morgan Creek Capital Management executive Anand Prasana. Jolly will assist with the transition of the positions to NewQuest.

DFJ is the third US-based VC firm to fully or partially exit India via the secondary market in the last two years. In 2014, KPCB and Sherpalo Ventures ended their India joint venture and the local management team spun out to form Lightbox. Several secondary investors supported an acquisition of the existing portfolio while a separate group of LPs provided $100 million for new investments. This was followed by the sale of Canaan Partners' India VC portfolio to J.P. Morgan Asset Management for a reported $200 million.

NewQuest recently reached a first close of just over $500 million on its third pan-regional fund, beating the initial target for the entire vehicle. The firm, created through the spin-out of Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Asia private equity team, purchases single assets and multi-asset portfolios held by family offices, corporations, banks, hedge funds and PE firms.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Secondaries
• Venture
• Technology
• TMT
• India
• Draper Fisher Jurvetson
• NewQuest Capital Partners