General Atlantic ‘bullish’ on Southeast Asia; Vista portfolio cos pledge to reduce emissions

Happy Monday, Hubsters. MK Flynn here with the Wire.

Let’s kick things off with a global story.

General Atlantic plans to invest $2 billion into India and Southeast Asia over the next two years after falling valuations have made the region’s startups more attractive, Sandeep Naik, who heads the firm’s business in India and Southeast Asia, told Reuters in an interview.

“The realism is setting in,” Naik said. “We were waiting for the value creation to happen. We are now ready.”

Naik said the New York firm is in talks with about 15 companies in technology, financial services, retail and consumer sectors in the region.

General Atlantic has investments of more than $4.5 billion in Southeast Asia, mostly in India, according to Reuters. Current investments include Byju’s, a Bangalore-based startup that helps students learn math and science with short videos.

“We are very bullish on India, Indonesia and Vietnam,” Naik said.
Climate Pledge. Tech-focused Vista Equity Partners announced on Friday that each of its majority-owned portfolio companies has agreed to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, set a GHG reduction target and offset GHG emissions on an annual basis, as part of the Vista Climate Pledge.

“The size and reach of Vista’s portfolio give us the unique opportunity to contribute to climate goals in a meaningful way, and with the Vista Climate Pledge, we are establishing an industry standard, utilizing the power of technology to create lasting impact,” said Robert F. Smith, founder, chairman and CEO. “As climate-related issues continue to grow in prevalence and importance for both business leaders and investors, Vista is committed to providing its portfolio companies with resources and support to increase their positive impact and create value for all stakeholders.”

Last year, Vista joined the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative (NZAM) and pledged to reduce firm emissions by 50 percent by 2030 and achieve net zero across its portfolio by 2050. The worked with its majority owned companies – 55 portfolio companies at the time – to measure the 2019 GHG emissions and establish a baseline for working towards its net zero goal.

“At Vista, we regard ESG opportunities as a path for innovation and value creation. Last year, we embarked on a journey to achieve net zero across our firm and portfolio companies, helping them to future-proof their climate resilience strategies and align our majority-owned investments to net zero goals,” said David Breach, president and COO. “The Climate Pledge is the next step in the process to establish a holistic technology-driven process for measuring, reducing and offsetting emissions, and we look forward to continuing to partner with our portfolio companies to lead the market in our journey towards net zero.”

On the deal side, during the due diligence process, Vista incorporates ESG analysis into its investment process to limit stakeholder risks, according to a Vista ESG and DEI report. After closing a deal, Vista continues to monitor ESG performance and progress.

LP portfolio sales. Kemnay Advisory Services, a single-family office, wants to sell a portfolio of private equity fund stakes valued at more than $1 billion, sources told Buyouts.

“The LP portfolio sale comes amid severe public market volatility, which makes pricing underlying private assets hard in secondaries sales,” Chris Witkowsky writes. “It remains to be seen if the Kemnay portfolio, like others in the volatile markets, will actually transact with sellers being asked to take potential steep discounts on some fund interests.”

“Exposure in the Kemnay portfolio includes TCV, which is among a handful of tech growth firms trading at a discount because of the recent public market volatility that has been especially hard on tech companies,” Chris reports. “Some buyers are meticulously excluding exposure to growth and VC in their deals to buy portfolios of LP interests in funds, sources told Buyouts.”

No one from Kemnay responded to a comment request.

LP portfolio sales have picked up this year, with several large processes moving through the volatile markets.

Read the full story for more.

That’s all for now.

Until tomorrow,
MK