Avendus Capital has ramped up its play in the alternative investment fund (AIF) sector with the launch of a new vehicle on Wednesday.
The Avendus Future Leaders Fund (FLF) III, a late-stage fund focused on large-cap investments in the private market, will be its third offering under the FLF platform. The Category-II AIF has a target corpus of $350 million (Rs 3,000 crore), including a green-shoe option of up to $175 million (Rs 1,500 crore).
The fund intends to make 10-12 investments with an allocation of $25-35 million (Rs 200-300 crore) per target. It will prioritise sectors with the potential for long-term growth, such as financial services, consumption, digital and technology, healthcare, and manufacturing.
The fund’s investments will include both primary transactions and secondaries.
The fund will leverage Avendus' insights into the cap-table dynamics to access differentiated investment opportunities, and leverage multiple exit options, including secondary exits and sale through public markets.
“With Avendus Future Leaders Fund III, our approach remains straightforward - harnessing the vast potential of late-stage private opportunities while co-opting the existing financial sponsor ecosystem,” said Ritesh Chandra, managing partner, Avendus Future Leaders Fund. “We continue to back differentiated and high-quality businesses with sustainable competitive moats and a clear roadmap to liquidity.”
Among recent developments, the FLF platform secured two exits within its FLF I portfolio--Lenskart Solutions and the National Stock Exchange of India--both generating nearly 4x returns for investors within four years.
The first fund (FLF I) has returned the entire investor capital ahead of schedule and is tracking attractive returns, said the firm.
The second fund has completed 11 investments to date and is planning to deploy its remaining capital over the next few months. Four of its portfolio companies are likely to list on the exchanges over the next 6-9 months, said the firm.
The FLF platform’s investor base includes Indian and US family offices and HNIs, and domestic institutions, with an AUM of over Rs 1,850 crore across the last two funds.
Bikaji Foods, Ujjivan SFB, Lenskart, NSE, Delhivery, VerSe Innovation (Dailyhunt), SBI General Insurance, Licious, Juspay, Zeta, Indegene, Veritas Finance, FirstCry, Avanse Financial Services, and Xpressbees are among its portfolio companies.
Avendus is present across sectors like investment banking, institutional equities, wealth management, credit solutions, and asset management. The firm is present in 10 cities across India, the US, and Singapore.
The asset management business focuses on delivering long-term risk-adjusted returns across four product offerings - private equity, private credit, long only and long short strategies.
