Investment Approach

Alpha exists around transitions

Novem does not compete in efficient markets. The fund invests where a company is crossing a threshold — of ownership, liquidity, information or listing status — because it is at these crossings that price and value separate most widely.

The Thesis

Five transitions. One repeatable source of alpha.

Private-to-public transition

The largest single re-pricing event in a company’s life. Pre-IPO and anchor entry positions capital before the market sets the price — at negotiated valuations unavailable to any public-market investor.

Ownership transition

Sub-₹2,000 crore companies are held by promoters and retail. When institutions arrive — index inclusion, FII/DII eligibility thresholds, coverage initiation — the shareholder register re-rates the stock. Novem enters before that arrival.

Liquidity transition

Illiquidity is a discount that disappears as float, volumes and market-making deepen. Positions are entered where liquidity is thin but improving — and the improvement itself is part of the return.

Information transition

Companies with no analyst coverage are priced on incomplete information. Proprietary research — promoter access, channel checks, on-ground intelligence — captures the gap between what is knowable and what is priced.

Valuation re-rating

Earnings growth alone is not the thesis; the multiple expanding as the market re-categorises the company is. Each position must have an identifiable re-rating catalyst, not merely a growth forecast.

The Disciplines

Conviction at entry. Design at exit.

A transition thesis fails without discipline on both ends. Novem’s operating rules are absolute, not aspirational.

Disciplined entry — valuation and institutional demand tested before capital moves; negotiated pricing wherever the structure allows.
Pre-defined exit logic — the exit pathway (listing, block deal, strategic sale) is identified before deployment, never improvised after it.
Capital velocity — defined holding periods and realised exits compound faster than open-ended conviction; the group anchor book averaged 132 days per position.
No leverage — returns come from selection and timing, never from borrowed amplification.
Selectivity over coverage — a six-filter screen exists to reject; most opportunities fail it.
Catalyst diversification — positions diversify by what unlocks value, not only by sector.

Where the Thesis Applies

One philosophy, five expressions.

Each strategy is the transitions thesis applied to a different point on India’s private-to-public spectrum.

A · B

At the listing gate

Anchor allocations price the private-to-public crossing; small & micro-cap listed positions ride the ownership and information transitions that follow it. Strategy A →

C · D

Either side of it

Pre-IPO secondaries enter before the gate at negotiated discounts; selective mid-caps capture the later re-rating as institutional eligibility thresholds approach. Strategy D →

When prices dislocate

Special situations — forced selling, corporate actions, rights and preferential issues — are transitions compressed into events, taken opportunistically. Strategy E →

The Five Strategies The Investment Process