Azim Premji-associated market funds add two portfolio firms, exit one

Private funds that invest on behalf of Wipro founder chairman Azim Premji picked up stakes in two new portfolio companies and likely exited one company during the three months ended September 30, 2021.

The investment entities bet on engineering firm CG Power & Industrial Solutions Ltd and luggage goods maker VIP Industries, buying a stake of 1.25% and 1.66%, respectively, as per shareholding disclosures for the quarter.

At the same time, the funds trimmed their holding or likely exited their investment in Kolkata-based FMCG company Emami. The funds also sold shares of farm machinery and tractor maker Escorts, Tata Group’s retail arm Trent and Murugappa Group’s engineering firm Tube Investments, which makes bicycles and other products.

Within this pack, the funds are believed to have fully exited Emami and snipped their stake in the other companies.

Companies need to disclose public shareholders name with or over 1% stake in listed companies. Premji’s investment funds do not figure among the list of Emami’s significant shareholders.

In the previous quarter ended June 30, the funds had trimmed their holding in three companies—Emami, Trent and Zydus Wellness while apparently exiting Narayana Hrudayalaya.

Interestingly, the fund had bet on tractor maker Escorts just the previous quarter. Escorts signed a big deal on Thursday with Japan’s Kubota, which is increasing its stake in the company. This pushed the stock higher.

A Premji-associated fund had also picked multiplex operator Inox Leisure in the previous quarter. It upped its stake marginally in the last quarter, too.

In Zydus, where it is invested via two entities, it trimmed stake of one and raised exposure via the other, something it did the previous quarter as well.

On the flip side, its holding rose marginally in Tube Investments during the previous quarter but declined more recently. It had also topped up its exposure to Craftsman Automation last quarter, same as previous quarter, showing it is bullish on the auto component maker.

Factoring out the investment entities’ stake in group flagship Wipro, the funds own a stake worth at least Rs 2,490 crore currently, based on the shareholding data as of September 30. The actual figure is expected to be higher as they may also be owning a small stake in several companies that may not be in the public domain as listed firms do not separately disclose name of shareholders if they hold less than 1%.

PremjiInvest manages both private investment and public market funds for Premji. It is one of the larger professionally managed family offices active in the stock market. It has a portfolio of at least ten third-party companies. Some other companies in its portfolio include Future Lifestyle Fashions and Future Retail.

Companies whose shares it had sold in the past include dairy company Parag Milk Foods, Tata group’s engineering and white goods company Voltas, private-sector lender DCB Bank and JK Lakshmi Cement.

It is also an active investor in private companies with exposure to both startups as well as mature companies.