Gaja Alternative

IPO Size: Rs. 550 cr

• Fresh Issue of Rs. 450 cr (20% dilution) towards sponsor commitment of Rs. 372 towards fund IV (existing) and V (proposed fund)
• Offer for Sale (OFS) of Rs. 100 cr, 60% OFS by promoters (71% to drop to 54%) and 40% OFS by 5 individual investors (13% combined stake to fall to 9% post IPO)

Price band: Rs. 152-160 per share

• Rs. 125 cr raised in pre-IPO at Rs. 144 per share in June 2025

M cap: Rs. 2,256 cr (IPO is 24% of m cap)

IPO Date: Wed 19th Aug to Fri 21^st Aug 2026, Listing Wed 26^th Aug 2026

Grey Market Premium (GMP): We are strongly against ‘grey market premium’ as it is an unofficial figure, against SEBI guidelines.

 

Mid-Market Private Equity (PE) Investor

Gaja Alternative Asset Management is a 20-year-old Mumbai-based investment manager to Category I and II India-focused alternative investment funds (AIFs) and acts as advisors to offshore funds, providing capital to Indian companies. It is independent (not sponsored by financial institution or corporate) and home-grown (ownership with Indian leadership team) with limited partners (investors in its funds) spread across 20 countries across India, US, Europe, Middle East.

 

3 Streams of Income

1. Management Fee: A predictable quarterly fee, based on fund size and earned on capital invested by limited partners.
2. Carried Interest / Performance Fee: Earned on realized gains basis respective fund’s internal rate of return (IRR). This stream of income is lumpy in nature – it stood at Rs. 69 cr in H1FY26 and Rs. 6 cr in H2FY26.
3. Income from Sponsor Commitment: Capital gains on capital commitment (invested by the company in its AIF), dependent on gross multiple on invested capital (MoIC). This again varies sharply (Rs. 57 cr in FY23, 0 in FY25 and Rs. 17 cr in FY26) as it is on accrual basis under IndAS and shown in ‘other income’.  

As of 31.3.26, company has Rs. 274 cr or 6.4% of capital commitment in 3 Gaja Capital Funds (Rs. 54 cr, Rs. 70 cr, Rs. 150 cr for Funds II, III and IV respectively), much higher than SEBI regulation (lower of 2.5% or Rs. 5 cr per fund). This indicates skin-in-the-game and drives higher yields.

 

Growing Financials

On committed AUM of Rs. 4,275 cr (fund II, III, IV), FY26 revenue stood at Rs. 136 cr, with PAT of Rs. 82 cr. This implies income yield of ~3.7% and profit yield of 1.9%, which is quite attractive, as some of fund IV is still undeployed.

In the past 3 years, net profit has doubled from Rs. 41 cr in FY23. EPS for FY26 stood at Rs. 7.26, on an equity of Rs. 56 cr (face value Rs. 5 each) with net worth (including unrealized gains) of Rs. 606 cr as of 31.3.26.

Thus, company profits are not predictable nor linear, but company’s net worth of Rs. 600 cr is sizeable, of which,, Rs. 230 cr has been added in the last 3 years, with net worth as of 31.3.23 being at Rs. 287 cr.

 

Fair Pricing

M cap of Rs. 2,256 cr implies a post-money price-to-book value multiple of 2.1x. This premium over the net worth essentially demonstrates ability to earn higher returns on the capital. To simplify, cash and equivalents are valued at one-time book value for their ability to earn 6-7% risk free rate of return. Since company’s RoE is at 16-17%, the premium to book value is justified.    

Sponsor commitment is essential as per regulation. Unlike mutual funds, Gaja’s business is not asset-light, making its RoE of 16-17% lower than mutual fund’ 25-30%.

On FY26 EPS of Rs. 7.17, the historic PE multiple is at 22x. As profits are accounted for on an accrual basis, PE multiple based valuation is subject to a higher variation.

 

Unique Retail Offering

Retail investors cannot otherwise participate in AIF, due to minimum investment of Rs. 1 cr per fund. IPO of Gaja makes this offering unique. Moreover, inventing in the company vis-à-vis the fund, gives an additional kicker of income from sponsor commitment.