Catamaran, a venture capital fund floated by Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy, may soon exit SKS Microfinance. A final decision on the matter is likely to be taken shortly, sources told FE.

Catamaran had invested R28.1 crore in SKS Microfinance on January 16, 2010, for 937,770 shares. This represents a 1.3% ownership of the company on a fully-diluted basis.

Contractually, Catamaran shares in SKS Microfinance have a lock-in for a period of 24 months from the date of investment. But this two-year lock-in clause that barred the exit of Catamaran till January 2012, lapsed in May when the weekly average closing price of SKS shares fell below R400.

According to the shareholder agreement, the lock-in does not apply if the ?market value of the equity shares as calculated on the basis of average closing prices in a calendar week falls below R400 per equity share.?

When FE contacted Catamaran managing director Arjun Narayan he did not offer any comments. When asked whether he wanted to deny the development he said, ?At Catamaran, we do not comment on market rumours.? SKS Microfinance CFO Dilli Raj said he was not aware of any such move. SKS got into troubled waters after the Andhra Pradesh government introduced a microfinance act last year that prevented microfinance companies from unfair debt collection practices. The provisions in the Andhra Pradesh MFI Act impacted loan recoveries and affected the firm?s growth in the state.

The company?s shares were listed at R1,040 on August 16, 2010 against the issue price of R985 a share after a successful public offering. SKS shares on BSE closed at R298.20, up 5%, on Thursday. The stock had hit a 52 week low of R188.45 on the BSE on September 2 this year.

For the June quarter, SKS had reported revenues of R177 crore, down 9% over the previous quarter and incurred a loss of R219 crore on account of a credit cost of R184 crore and deferred tax asset reversal of R95 crore. For the June quarter, the firm?s provisions for bad debts and write-offs increased to R184 crore from R106 crore in the March quarter.