Launched in early 2007, Helix Investment Advisors India, with a corpus of $100 million, have so far invested $36 million in India, including in Mahesh Tutorials (Educare), Learning Mate Solutions and Hi Rel Electronics. This fund is sponsored by Culbro LLC, the private equity investment vehicle of the Cullman family and Bloomingdale Properties, a US-based investment and real estate company. Andrey Purushottam, with 24 years of experience in several companies, including Lintas, HUL and the Mahindra Group, took over as executive director, Helix Investments, on March 21. Purushottam tells FE?s Sarika Malhotra the key focus areas for Helix and that it has no plans to enter the real estate domain in India.
What is the big picture for Helix Investments in India?
We believe in investing in small and medium companies that are asset light and have a clearly differentiated story, either by means of being a brand or by having a differentiated business model/proposition. Being a family fund, our capital is truly patient, unlike many other PE funds. Our investment has no fixed expiry date; we are long-term investors.
The usual investment size for Helix is in the range of $5-15 million. Do you see enhancing this limit, given that large deals are the norm within the PE space?
We are actively looking at fresh investments and if the right deals come along, we would love to conclude at least two deals in the $10-20 million ticket size, flexible either way, in this year. We aim to tweak up our deal size, but remain committed to investing in small and medium companies that value our model of deep engagement and patient capital. We are also open to co-investing with other like-minded PE funds.
How does the India market look for PE/VCs, especially given a flurry of new India-dedicated funds? What does it spell for valuations?
The need for PE/VCs in India is likely to grow, and robustly. There is an increasing need for funds, be it for equity or debt. Indians now have a consensus that the engine of growth in India will be the private sector. This huge growth in GDP, coupled with the absence of ?crowding out? by government spending and an ever-increasing tribe of young entrepreneurs augurs well for PE/VCs in terms of the opportunity; the challenge is their ability to choose the winners and at valuations that allow for a high rate of return.
While debt has essentially a different role to play in the funding process, perhaps being more suited to projects with large outlays and reasonably predictable outcomes, there could at the margin be a migration from debt to equity and specifically PE. This shift should also help PE. Many PE firms in India, including Helix, have retained the flexibility to invest in both unlisted and listed companies. The focus, however, remains unlisted companies, and it is in this space that I expect valuations to correct downwards in the near future.