Ashish Dhawan adds new portfolio company, ups bet on three others

Ashish Dhawan, co-founder of one of the India’s largest and most successful independent private equity firms ChrysCapital, has built a sizeable personal investments portfolio in the public market.

Dhawan, who stepped down just over a decade after starting the investment firm to focus on philanthropy, has at least 15 listed companies in his personal portfolio, which is worth around $300 million.

To be sure, he holds over 1% stake in these companies though he may be owning a tad lower in several others.

The private equity veteran added one new company to his portfolio while topping up investments in three companies, latest public shareholding data reveals.

Dhawan picked up a 1.18% stake in Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd. Based on the average share price of the firm last quarter, he would have shelled out anywhere between Rs 220-240 crore for the stake. This is currently worth Rs 262 crore.

Interestingly, Dhawan has a past association with the company. Before he quit active life with ChrysCapital, the private equity firm he cofounded had invested in Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services. ChrysCapital had participated in a pre-IPO round of the financial services arm of the Mahindra Group in 2006 and exited it around four years later with around 3.5 times of what it bet on it.

Dhawan would be hoping to get lucky again with the same company.

While Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services is a new portfolio company, he also bought additional shares of three existing companies in the basket. These are HSIL, Quess Corp and Equitas Holdings.

Other companies

Dhawan, who is also the founder and chairman of Central Square Foundation (CSF) and Ashoka University, stayed put with another eight existing portfolio companies: Dish TV, Glenmark, IDFC, Zensar, Greenlam, Palred, Arvind Fashions and RPSG Ventures.

Meanwhile, he trimmed his stake in Birlasoft and likely exited Allcargo Logistics.

One of his portfolio firms, Karur Vysya Bank, is yet to declare its latest shareholding pattern. Dhawan has been holding a 2.5% stake in the bank for a long time now and is unlikely to have exited it.