India's IVFA rebrands as True North
India Value Fund Advisors (IVFA) has changed its name to True North (Managers) and formalized its sector specialist strategy.
The firm has been officially sector-agnostic but with three core sectors: healthcare, financial services and consumer. For Fund V, which closed in 2015 at $700 million, True North added IT products and services. The GP has now restructured its investment team into a silos for each sector. It will reserve 10% of the fund corpus for investment in other sectors, in hopes of building experience in areas that show promise.
True North decided to make this change because India’s economy has developed enough depth that there are enough opportunities in specific sectors.
“The transformation from IVFA to True North comes at the right time when the sector teams are ripe with the expertise and experience gained over the last 17 years, with most members having invested across 2-3 economic cycles,” IVFA Managing Partner Vishal Nevatia (pictured) said in a statement.
True North seeks either controlling stakes or significant minority stakes in Indian midmarket companies in order to help build them into market leaders. Recent acquisitions include agricultural research firm Seedworks International, to which True North plans to commit up to $40 million to expand R&D efforts and introduce new product lines.
The GP has a significant presence in India’s healthcare sector, with stakes in hospital chains Manipal Hospitals, Cloudnine Hospitals and Aster DM Healthcare, along with medical technology manufacturer Trivitron Healthcare. True North plans to part-exit Aster DM in its planned IPO. It also made a partial exit from pharmaceuticals company Syngene International last year.
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