Samena Capital, an investment group focussing on principal investments in the Subcontinent, Asia, Middle East and North Africa, collectively known as the Samena region, reports on gains from its first round of investment exits in its flagship Samena Special Situations Fund.
The Eicher Motors investment has generated an internal rate of return (IRR) of 214 percent over a 23-month investment horizon, a profit of USD25.9 million on a total investment of USD6.1 million, it says. Samena Special Situations Fund invested in Eicher Motors, India’s third largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, in March 2009. The investment made the fund the third largest shareholder in the company.
Samena Special Situations Fund, with assets under management in excess of USD200 million, seeks to achieve a target IRR of 25 percent per annum by focussing on building strategic minority stakes in public enterprises across the Samena region that are stable mature businesses with high calibre managements and at a ‘special’ stage of their business cycle.
Samena Capital’s founder and president, Shirish Saraf, says, “The Indian commercial vehicle segment is among the fastest growing markets in the world, and Samena Capital saw an opportunity to invest in a world class company operating at the heart of our core Samena region in early 2009. We continue to view Eicher as one of the best plays in the rising dominance of Samena-centric companies. We believe Eicher remains well-positioned to realize its objective of capturing a 15 percent share in the domestic HCV industry over the next three years.”
Samena Capital is uniquely capitalized with USD50 million in equity capital and currently manages about USD400 million of assets across a range of close-ended funds. The Eicher exit follows a similarly strong performance on exiting the senior secured Rubicon Offshore (Singapore) bond 2012 for an IRR of 73 percent over 15 months.
