Garnett & Helfrich, a US-based specialist venture buyout firm, has reversed its decision to set up a dedicated office in India.
The firm, which manages a $350 million fund to carve out businesses from various Fortune 500 companies, had said last October that it would set up and expand its office in the country. Six months down the line, this decision has been aborted.
Neeraj Gunsagar, who was to lead the Garnett & Helfrich investments here, has quit and joined Matrix Partners.
According to industry sources, Garnett & Helfrich will continue to focus on India as an investment market and have a strong presence with its portfolio companies.
"They have a tonne of opportunities in the US and Europe right now and will spend most of their resources on investments in those markets," a source close to G&H said.
An email response from G&H, quoting Garnett & Helfrich Capital Managing Director and co-founder Terry Garnett, said: "We remain committed to investment opportunities in India and our portfolio companies' growth in India. Ingres, Celunite and Wyse have enjoyed significant growth in India since this past fall, including employing more than 200 employees in India, and forming strategic alliances with companies such as Satyam and Wipro," the statement noted without discussing the specific issue of reversing the decision to set up an office here.
G&H, which is in the process of raising a $850 million fund, has successfully carved out business from global corporations such as Nortel, Computer Associates and grown the product business into multi-billion-dollar entities. In India, the company is planning to acquire services companies that will support the product businesses in its portfolio.
G&H, as a starting point of its Indian operations, had invested an estimated $30 million into a hybrid US-India company, Celunite, which focuses on developing open-source mobile platforms, taking on established platforms such as Symbian and BREW. Celunite will be the vehicle G&H will be using for leveraged buyouts from some of the large firms developing mobile applications.