New Delhi, May 11 -- New York-based alternative asset manager KKR, among the top private equity firms in terms of exits in India last year, has pressed the sell button on another one of its consumer portfolio companies in the country.

The PE firm, which is also looking to monetize its investments in at least three Indian companies via initial public offerings, fully exited its five-year-old bet on eyewear retailer Lenskart via secondary market transactions. It sold its entire 1.92% stake in Lenskart on Friday for Rs 1,578.3 crore ($165.6 million), stock-exchange data show.

KKR was one of four PE investors that sold their shares in Lenskart-the others Alpha Wave, TR Capital and ABG Capital. In total, the four investors offloaded shares worth Rs 5,313 crore. Funds managed by BlackRock, Fidelity, Citigroup as well as mutual funds, insurance companies and pension funds were among the buyers.

The shares sales come as the six-month lock-in period for Lenskart's pre-IPO investors ended-Lenskart had made its debut on the domestic bourses in November 2025 with its IPO receiving 15.6x subscription.

KKR, TR Capital's returns

KKR, whose bets in India span across healthcare, consumer, financial services, telecom, digital, and infrastructure sectors, logged out from drugmaker JB Chemicals and investment bank Avendus, monetized part of its investment in Vertis Infrastructure Trust and made a partial exit from Lenskart last year. In addition, it has kicked off processes to sell part of its stake in InCred Holdings, Leap India, and Advanta Enterprises via IPOs.

For KKR, the latest transaction takes its total harvest from Lenskart to over Rs 2,620.7 crore.

In November, KKR offloaded shares worth Rs 150.1 crore at the time of IPO, reducing its shareholding from 2.2% to 1.92%. In May 2024, it monetized a part of its holding when Singapore state investor Temasek and American asset manager Fidelity together infused $200 million via a secondary transaction. At the time, it cashed out with Rs 885 crore (about $107 million). It generated another Rs 7.3 crore when Lenskart co-founder Peyush Bansal bought back shares in July 2025.

Overall, the firm has generated about 3.8x of its capital it invested in 2021, according to VCCircle's estimates. In May 2021, KKR said it was buying a stake worth $95 million or about Rs 696 crore in Lenskart, providing an exit to TPG Growth and TR Capital. Its internal rate of return (IRR) in rupee terms is about 39% over a five-year period, higher than the 20-30% benchmark (in rupee terms) that PE firms chase at a fund level.

However, on a first-in-first-out basis, KKR's annualised returns in the latest transaction are around 24% in rupee terms thanks to the longer holding period, VCCircle estimates show.

Meanwhile, secondaries PE firm TR Capital also fully exited on Friday by selling its stake for Rs 1,538 crore while US-based Alpha Wave offloaded shares worth Rs 1,762 crore.

TR Capital had, via several investment vehicles, picked up Lenskart shares from Chiratae Ventures, TPG and Unilazer Ventures in 2018 and 2019. It has made multiple partial exits starting 2021 and sold Lenskart shares to the likes of KKR, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Temasek, and Alpha Wave, apart from taking part in the IPO.

Overall, TR Capital is believed to have invested about Rs 360 crore and pulled out approximately Rs 4,375 crore, translating into a multiple on invested capital of 12x, according to VCCircle estimates.

TR Capital didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lenskart, founded in 2010, sells eyewear through its stores and its website across India, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. The company went public in November at a valuation of nearly $8 billion. In the IPO, it raised Rs 2,150 crore through a fresh issue of shares while its promoters and 13 investors offered nearly 12.75 million shares for sale, according to its IPO prospectus. The total IPO size was Rs 7,278 crore. Lenskart shares have risen about 21% since the IPO and closed at Rs 488.90 apiece on Monday.

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