ICICI Venture exits seven cos

NEW DELHI: With the government withdrawing the blanket pass-through taxation status of private equity(PE) funds based in the country, domestic funds appear to be rejigging their portfolios smartly. ICICI Venture made a partial exit from seven listed companies in its portfolio in on March 28, all through bulk deals with UBS Securities. The PE fund would have raised anywhere between Rs 150-200 crore through the partial exits. The new tax regulations governing the pass through status of PE funds came into effect from April 1.

ICICI Venture, through The Western India Trustee and Executor Company Ltd, struck bulk deals for partial divestments in Deccan Aviation, Nagarjuna Construction, Sangam India, PVR, Welspun India, Samtel Color and Gateway Distriparks.

The cumulative value of these bulk deals stand at about Rs 157.7 crore. ICICI Venture officials were not available for comment. According to the stock market disclosures, the private equity fund, in addition, also sold some shares of these companies in the open market and some shares were ‘distributed in specie to ICICI Bank Ltd’.

What’s most interesting is that the selloff took place within a period of 10-15 days flat and at a time when the BSE Midcap Index was swinging wildly with a downward bias. Interestingly, ICICI Venture sold shares of Samtel Color at a significant loss. While the shares were acquired at a price of about Rs 82 per share, they were sold at Rs 20-30.