Domestic capital to form bigger part of PE fundraise’

Homegrown private equity firm ChrysCapital has closed its latest Fund X at a record $2.2 billion, marking a 60% jump over its $1.35-billion Fund IX in 2022. In an environment where global fundraising cycles have stretched and limited partners (LPs) have turned cautious, ChrysCapital wrapped up the fund’s final close within six months of its first close, Managing Director Saurabh Chatterjee tells Ayanti Bera in an interview. Excerpts:

- SAURABH CHATTERJEE, MD, CHRYSCAPITAL

You closed your last fund in 2022. How has the fundraising environment changed since then?

It has become difficult globally. Earlier, funds would close in 18 months, then it moved to 20 months and then 24 months. Now, I think the average time to close a fund is more than two years. The global environment is uncertain because of geopolitical reasons, and there’s nothing markets hate more than uncertainty because they can’t plan.

Despite that, you closed your fund in six months.

There are three reasons behind that. The first is team stability — three of our five partners have been with the firm for more than 20 years, and the average tenure across MDs is over 15 years. The second is our track record. We've raised $10 billion, made over 100 investments, and fully exited six funds, something no other Indian team has come close to. Fund 7 has already returned 150% of capital. Thirdly, our investment strategy has not changed over the past 25 years. We’ve lived through multiple economic cycles, including the global financial crisis and Covid, and delivered success.

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