Cartica Capital buys 2.5 percent stake in Jockey innerwear

Cartica Capital has picked another 2.5 percent stake in Page Industries, the licensed

manufacturer of Jockey brand of innerwear in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. The stake was picked up for Rs 168 crores (27.5 million dollars). Cartica Capital picked up 2.8 lakh at an average price of Rs 6,000 per share on NSE.

Of the total, 69,723 equity shares were bought from HDFC Equity Fund. Simultaneously, Page Industries’ promoter Genomal family has sold 1.35 percent stake in the company. Though it is not confirmed, who picked up these shares, sources claim that they were acquired by Cartica Capital. It had picked 5 percent stake last month for Rs 317 crores (51.2 million dollars) and the latest transaction lifts its total exposure to the company to Rs 485 crores (78.7 million dollars). Another PE firm Nalanda Capital holds 9.96 percent stake in Page Industries.

For the first nine months of FY14, Page Industries reported a 36 percent increase in revenues to Rs 904.4 crores compared with the same period last year with a 33 percent rise in net profit to Rs 118.66 crores. For the third quarter of FY14, Page Industries reported 40 percent rise in net sales to Rs 302.51 crores with 36 percent increase in net profit of Rs 34.63 crores.

Cartica Capital focuses on public companies and manages investments for large US pensions like Calpers and the State of Wisconsin Investment Board. In India, Cartica's other investments include financial services companies such as Ratnakar Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services.