New Delhi, March 17 -- Multiples Alternate Asset Management Pvt Ltd and two of its top executives have settled allegations of violating various regulations related to its maiden private equity fund that it raised about a decade and a half ago.
The PE firm, its founder and CEO Renuka Ramnath, managing director and deputy CEO Sudhir Variyar, and two related entities paid a total of Rs 92.6 lakh (around $100,127) to settle the allegations with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
The allegations related to violating several regulations including those on taking adequate approval from limited partners to extend a PE fund's tenure as well as on the timely liquidation of assets and distribution of proceeds.
Multiples PE, founded by Ramnath in 2009 after leaving ICICI Venture, had raised $405 million for its debut fund. The fund hit its first close in 2010 and final close the following year. The fund's global limited partners included the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Dutch pension fund PGGM, and the UK's CDC Group (now known as British International Investment). Its Indian LPs included Reliance Industries and Life Insurance Corporation.
The first fund invested in 11 companies such as Arvind Ltd, logistics startup Delhivery, the Indian Energy Exchange, Cholamandalam Investment, South Indian Bank, multiplex chain PVR, and Vikram Hospital.
In late 2017, Multiples PE announced that it had returned the principal amount from the first fund to its LPs. (To know more about the fund's performance, click here)
SEBI's settlement order shows that the final settlement amount was nearly two-and-a-half times what the fund and its top executives had proposed.
The regulator had, in June 2025, issued a show-cause notice to the PE firm and its top executives for their failure to wind up the fund upon expiry of its tenure as per the provisions of its Private Placement Memorandum.
The allegations included violating Sections 13 (5) and 29 (7) of SEBI's Alternative Investment Fund Regulations. These sections relate to extending the fund tenure by two years only with the approval of two-thirds of the unitholders by value of their investment, and on liquidating assets and distributing proceeds within one year from the date indicated for winding up of the fund.
Pending adjudication proceedings, the PE firm proposed to settle the proceedings without admitting or denying the findings of facts and conclusions of law, and filed an application towards this on August 5, 2025.
SEBI's Internal Committee proposed a settlement amount of Rs 92.6 lakh, but the PE firm and its executives proposed an amount of Rs 36.56 lakh. After deliberations, the committee stuck to the amount it had proposed.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.