Samara Plans to Wind Down Second Fund by September

PE firm to return full money, shores up confidence ahead of final close of third fund

- Priyamvada C & Ranjani Raghavan

As it readies for the final close of its third fund in a cautious environment, Samara Capital is poised to join a small group of investment firms in India that have fully returned money to investors with gains.

The private equity firm plans to wind down its 11-year-old second fund over the next three months and will fully return the proceeds from its exits to its limited partners, said a person familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

"The second fund has already exited nine out of 10 investments and expects to return the balance amount by September," the person cited above said, adding that the tenth exit will take place over the next month.

The fund has clocked a 3.5x gross multiple on invested capital, with a 25% internal rate of return, according to the person.

Samara declined to comment.

Limited partners (LPs) or investors are looking at the track record of general partners, who manage these funds, before committing more money. That has prompted investment firms in India to consider cashing out some of their bets to return money to their LPs.

Quadria Capital returned its first fund of a similar vintage in 2023-end, Mint reported at the time.