New Delhi, June 19 -- Two venture capital funds managed by Everstone Capital and AdvantEdge and a real estate investment vehicle managed by HDFC Property Fund have settled with the Securities and Exchange Board of India separate probes into violation of certain norms.

The cases related to delays in winding up the funds, distributing proceeds, and not ensuring pro-rata contributions from the sponsor. The funds and their top executives paid between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 26 lakh (around $10,590-$27,534) to settle these matters, according to SEBI orders issued this week.

Everstone Capital

Everstone Capital raised the Kshitij Venture Capital Fund almost two decades ago. The SEBI order noted that the VC fund violated regulations as it wound up after a delay of four years and eight months.

The fund's life began in 2005. Its term was to end in June 2012 but was extended twice, first to June 2013 and then to June 2014. However, its last asset was liquidated only in May 2018 and proceeds were distributed only after setting aside Rs 3 crore for meeting liabilities, contingencies and expenses. Post-settlement of tax litigations, the final distributions were made in February 2024.

The fund paid Rs 10.87 lakh to settle the proceedings with SEBI.

HDFC Property Fund

HDFC Property Fund and its investment manager, HDFC Capital Advisors, filed settlement applications with SEBI regarding two of their schemes-HDFC Real Estate Fund and HDFC IT Corridor Fund. Both had a tenure of seven years starting July 2005, with an option of extending the fund life by two one-year periods.

The real estate fund was found to have wound up and distributed proceeds with a delay of seven years. It retained Rs 5.33 crore for contingent liabilities, an amount which was distributed among investors in March 2025.

The IT Corridor Fund completed the liquidation within its extended tenure but it retained Rs 89 lakh for contingent liabilities which was distributed among investors in March 2025.

HDFC Capital Advisors paid Rs 26.01 lakh to settle the proceedings and submitted that they assumed the role of the fund's manager with effect from May 2023, as part of the restructuring exercise before the merger between HDFC Ltd and HDFC Bank. It also said that it had no role to play in the operations and decision making of these two schemes.

Advantedge Technology Fund

According to a separate SEBI order, the examination of quarterly annual reports of the Advantedge Technology Fund Scheme III indicated that the manager of the fund, Advantedge Investment Advisors LLP, and sponsor of the fund had not contributed to the scheme pro-rata to the contribution of other investors.

So, the fund, its manager and its key management personnel Kunal Khattar, Ridhish Talwar and Nitin Garg violated the regulations, SEBI noted.

The regulator in March 2026 issued notices of summary settlement to these entities. A month later, the entities paid Rs 12.75 lakh to settle the matter.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.