After a hold from 2012 to 2014, TPG Capital, the largest major private equity (PE) company with its headquarters in San Francisco and handling over $13520 billion of assets since about August, has been stepping up its investment in India.
In an exclusive interview with ET, Jim Coulter, founding partner of TPG Capital, also said a new generation of people of Indian entrepreneurs is pushing both themselves and the nation to rethink how the future of business might pan out. According to him, this is one of the main factors that has led to India becoming one of the best-performing marketplaces in the area.
One of the biggest private equity (PE) firms, TPG Capital is based in San Francisco and as of August, managed over $135 billion in assets after a cooling-off period from 2012 to 2014, has been increasing its investment in India.
In a wide-ranging interview, Coulter, 62, emphasized the need to “lean in” in response to the unstable nature of the world economy by drawing comparisons to famous works of literature like Ulysses and the Wizard of Oz, as well as Harry Potter. “Four initial public offerings in just the past year. In the past two years, we made investments totalling close to $3.5 billion. As many IPOs from our portfolio, I believe, are possible in the upcoming year. I believe that in the coming year, you will witness a lot of IPOs from our portfolio. India will likely gain ground in our investment activity if anything.
When Coulter was employed by billionaire Robert Bass, he first worked with David Bonderman, who he has known since.
The two split up in 1992 to found TPG Capital, among the first private equity firms to develop a footprint in India over a decade ago.
From a partnership with some of the largest or most reputable company names in India Inc., such as Reliance, Tata Motors, and Shriram Group, to online commerce startups (Nykaa, Lenskart, and FirstCry), a few of which have resulted in huge periods of work for the fund in India, Coulter, a Dartmouth & Stanford alumnus, asserted that the best stakeholders do interesting stuff “that can create a good return.”But have a peek at Nykaa, Dodla Dairy, Lenskart, and AHH — these are very fascinating tiny businesses of which we are also incredibly proud. Not in one way, I would not overread. To work successfully with businesses of all sizes, we have a wide range of instruments at our disposal.”
According to Coulter, the largest democracy in the world has had an uptick in investment due to a stable administration, clearer laws, declining tax rates, and increasing government spending on infrastructure. It’s a fascinating time, he remarked. “I’m impressed at how quickly innovation is occurring and how helpful the government is.”
India has a competitive benefit to steer the global story on climate area at a time when globalization has given rise to regional integration and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine has destabilized commodity markets, according to Coulter. “Regionalization in certain aspects will also potentially speed up most of the investments for a such sustainable economy,” he said. “The fact that the environmental revolution is financial and physical makes it significantly different. Someone created the web for you during the technological revolution. We must create tangible assets if we want to invest in climate change.”
TPG Capital makes investments using a variety of funding sources, including the original TPG Capital, as well as economic expansion investing through the TPG Growth as well as TPG Tech Adjacencies funds. The impact funds Rise and Evercare help businesses level social and environmentally friendly solutions while still generating high returns.