Speaker Biographies
Akhil Awasthi
Managing Director
Tata Capital Growth Fund
Akhil has over 12 years of private equity experience in India, and about 20 years of experience in financial services spanning asset management and corporate banking.
Akhil was one of the founding members of Baring Private Equity Partners, a leading Indian private equity fund and was involved in all stages of the PE lifecycle, from creating an investment proposition, fund raising, investment and divestment. While at Baring, Akhil completed over 15 transactions and 10 exits delivering attractive returns to investors. He served on the Board of Directors of various portfolio companies and was also a Member/ Chairman of Compensation / Audit Committees.
Prior to Baring, Akhil was a founding member of India's first private sector mutual fund ITI Pioneer AMC (Now Franklin Templeton) where he was responsible for researching and analyzing the pharmaceutical, software and automobile sectors.
Akhil began his career in 1990 in corporate banking with ANZ Grindlays Bank.
Akhil has completed the Advanced Management Program from the Harvard Business School, has a Post Graduate qualification in Management from University of Delhi, and is a qualified Mechanical Engineer. Akhil is actively involved with Indian Venture Capital Association, TiE and the HBS Alumni Association.
Shubhashis Gangopadhyay
Managing Trustee & Research Director
India Development Foundation
Shubhashis Gangopadhyay is Managing Trustee and Research Director of India Development Foundation. Till December 2008, he was Advisor to the Finance Minister, Government of India, and was the youngest ever Secretary in the government. He got his PhD in Economics from Cornell University, USA, in 1983, his Bachelor’s degree from Presidency College, Kolkata in 1978 and did his schooling in Calcutta Boys’ School. He joined the Indian Statistical Institute as a lecturer in 1983 and was promoted to full professor in 1991. He took over as founder-director of IDF, an independent research organization, in 2002. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, in October 2006.
Currently, he is the Chief Editor of the Journal of Emerging Market Finance (Sage Publications), and an associate editor of the Journal of Financial Stability (Elsevier). He is a member of the South Asia Chief Economist’s Advisory Council of the World Bank. He is also the founder-President of the Society for the Promotion of Game Theory and its Applications. He has published widely in international journals, and has a number of books, in economics and finance.
He has served on the Board of the Industrial Reconstruction Bank of India (IRBI) and as a member of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Advisory Group on Bankruptcy Law. He has been a consultant to the Ministries of Finance, Planning, Industry, Rural Development, etc. He has led important government research projects like the leading indicator of economic activity, the impact of steel de-control on SAIL and the use of the Hajira-Bijapur-Jagdishpur gas pipe-line. As a member of the PSFT Task Force on the plantation sector, he has developed a new financial instrument for reducing the impact of price volatility on plantation growers.
He has worked closely with industry both in India and abroad. He has lectured widely to foreign industry delegations coming to India, attended their world meets as a resource person and has held closed-door, one-on-one discussions with their management teams.
He has a rich experience of advising students at the PhD level and has a number of students both in India and abroad.
Promod Haque
Managing Partner
Norwest Venture Partners
Promod has 19 years of experience in the venture capital industry and currently serves as managing partner at Norwest Venture Partners. He has been ranked as a top dealmaker on the annual Forbes Midas List for the past nine years, and in 2004, Forbes named him as the #1 venture capitalist based on performance over the last decade. In 2006, Promod was presented with a Global Leadership award from NASSCOM.
Promod focuses on investments in semiconductor and components, systems, software and services. He was an early investor and a board member of Cerent (acquired by Cisco), Siara Systems (acquired by Redback Networks), OnDisplay (acquired by Vignette), Winphoria Networks (acquired by Motorola) and Extreme Networks (Nasdaq: EXTR).
Prior to Norwest Venture Partners, Promod spent 18 years in various operational roles ranging from product development, marketing, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer at various public and private companies - Siemens International, Thorn EMI, Emergent Technologies and Dimensional Medicine, Inc.
He received a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from the University of Delhi, India. He holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Northwestern University and an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg Graduate School of Management, where he serves on the advisory board.
Vikram Sood
Vice President, Centre for International Relations
Observer Research Foundation
Vikram Sood is Vice President of the Centre for International Relations at Observer Research Foundation, an independent public policy think-tank based in Delhi. He is also associated with the Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Mr Sood headed India’s external intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing, from January 2001 to March 2003. He joined the service in 1972 having transferred from India’s civil services which he joined in 1966.
Since retiring from the Research and Analysis Wing, Mr Sood has been a prolific commentator on international affairs, security and foreign policy issues. From 2004 to 2008 he contributed a fortnightly column – “Perspectives” – to the Hindustan Times, whilst also making occasional contributions to other journals, newspapers and magazines including; the Indian Defence Review, Force, the Asian Age, Mail Today, The Hindu, the Times of India, Business World and Tehelka. In addition, Mr Sood is a consulting editor with Indian Defence Review.
Vikram has a Postgraduate degree in Economics from St Stephen’s College Delhi (1960-65), and maintains a blog of his perspectives on current affairs at soodvikram.blogspot.com.
Markus Ableitinger
Head Asia Investment Management
Capital Dynamics
Markus heads the Hong Kong office and Investment Management Asia at Capital Dynamics. Markus is responsible of overseeing the Asian investment program and strategy for the firm. He has 12 years private equity direct and fund of funds investment experience in emerging and mature private equity markets. The Capital Dynamics Hong Kong office oversees Asian private equity commitments to China, India, Australia, Japan, South Korea and some selected other Asian countries of more than USD 1 billion. Prior to joining Capital Dynamics in 2000, for several years and located in Moscow, Russia, Markus held managing positions at the Growth Capital Fund of INVESCO CEAM, with focus on privately owned and consumer oriented large businesses in Central Eastern European and lead the auditing and tax division at German lead Puender Group (later Clifford Chance Puender). Prior to that, he worked at OMV AG and PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Vienna where he was engaged with corporate restructuring, international tax, auditing and corporate finance activities. Markus holds a degree in Business Economics from the University Innsbruck.
Rajeev Agrawal
CEO
Ambit Pragma Ventures Pvt. Ltd.
Rajeev is a founding member of Ambit Pragma Ventures and has played a key role in raising the maiden fund. With a private equity investing experience of nearly 9 years after spending the first 6 years in various operating roles before joining the PE industry, he a first hand understanding of growth challenges faced by young companies.
Prior to forming Ambit Pragma, Rajeev was a Partner and Fund Manager with India Value Fund joining them early in 2000. During his association with IVF, he led investments in healthcare services, entertainment and infrastructure services sectors.
Rajeev is Telecommunications engineer and holds an MBA degree from University of Mumbai.
Shobhit Agarwal
Director
Protiviti Consulting Private Limited
Shobhit Agarwal is a Director at Protiviti India. Shobhit started his career with Arthur Andersen in India and later worked with Ernst & Young in India and the US. A Chartered Accountant by profession, Shobhit has worked with companies in India and overseas across a range of industries as well as with several large private equity investors. He has advised clients on entry strategy, acquisitions, business model reviews and . Shobhit has extensive experience of Telecom, Power, Infrastructure and Real estate industries. He has extensive experience of advising private equity funds on business improvement opportunities, process reengineering and enterprise risk management for their portfolio companies.
Shobhit has led several thought leadership initiatives for developing the transaction support practice in India especially with respect to operational integration issues during pre and post merger situations and post acquisition reviews and management.
Managing Director & Head of Asia
3i
Anil Ahuja joined 3i in April 2005 and has more than twenty years of international financial services experience. Anil is one of the earliest Private Equity investors in India, with over 10 years investment experience. Anil leads 3i’s investment teams to deliver 3i’s strategic objectives across Asia, working with 3i’s local business heads in China, Singapore and India. Prior to joining 3i, from 1997 to 2005, Anil worked at JP Morgan Partners Asia, overseeing the investments in the Indian market. Prior to that, from 1986 to 1997, Anil worked with Citibank Mumbai.
Anil holds a postgraduate Diploma in Business Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (India) and a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi.
Anil currently serves on the Board of Adani Enterprises Limited, Vijai Electricals and Nimbus Communications Limited and has previously served on various Boards including Adani Power, HDFC Bank, HDFC Securities, Domino’s Pizza India Limited, MTR Foods and Microland.
Sandeep Aneja
Managing Director
Kaizen
Sandeep Aneja has more than 15 years of operations management, investing and nurturing experience across education, technology, real estate and logistics sectors. He is the founder and Managing Director of India’s first private equity fund set up to make investments in the education sector, Kaizen Education Fund I.
Most recently he was the Managing Director of a real estate development fund in India called Milestone Fund LLC. Previously he was a Partner at Outlook Ventures, a venture capital firm located in Silicon Valley, California, USA. Sandeep was a member of the Outlook Ventures team for nearly 5 years. He has invested in more than 22 companies across sectors such as software, services, real estate in India and United States and has an outstanding investment track record.
Sandeep has an MBA from Stanford University, a Master of Science in Civil Engineering and Operations Research from University of Delaware and a Bachelor of Engineering from Indian Railways Institute of Engineering.
Karthik Athreya
Director
Clearwater Capital
Karthik Athreya, based in Mumbai, is responsible for Clearwater’s Indian investments. Over the past two and a half years, Karthik has led the team on asset management involving extensive corporate finance, equity monetization strategies as well as focusing on portfolio company growth, organization and business building strategies. Under his leadership, Clearwater successfully exited several investments. Mr Athreya is also on the Boards of several of Clearwater’s Indian portfolio companies and works closely with the sponsors and management to help evaluate strategic and financial opportunities and risks as part of his asset management responsibilities.
Prior to joining Clearwater, Karthik was a Director of Investment Banking at a private sector bank in India, where he assisted in the establishment of the investment banking business. Prior to this, he held positions of increasing responsibility at Rabo India Finance Pvt. Ltd (the corporate investment banking subsidiary of Rabobank Netherlands), Arthur Andersen and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr Athreya is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and holds a B.C. from Loyola College, Chennai, India.
Vishal Bakshi
Head, Principal Investment Group
Goldman Sachs
Vishal Bakshi is a Managing Director in the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. based in Mumbai, India where he is co-head of the Principal Investment Area.
Vishal has 14 years of private equity and investment banking experience including 10 years at Goldman Sachs. Prior to his current role, he was Global Head of IT Services/ BPO M&A and Corporate Finance at Goldman Sachs based out of New York.
Vishal holds a B.A. (hons.) in Economics from St. Stephen's College, Post Graduate Diploma in Management from I.I.M. Ahmedabad and an MBA from Columbia Business School. He currently sits on the Board of Sigma Electric and serves as a Co-opted Member of the Board of ADAPT (Spastics Society of India).
Sharadkumar Bhatia
CEO
Phoenix Asset Reconstruction Company Limited
Sharad, the CEO of Phoenix ARC, has over three decades of experience in the financial services industry. He has over 25 years of experience with ICICI Bank Limited where he held several key positions in Investment Banking, AMC, Special Asset Management and Project Appraisal Groups.
In the Special Asset Management Group, he was responsible for managing a portfolio of over 500 NPAs and was instrumental in improving the portfolio quality through restructuring, mergers/divestures, OTS of dues and sale of underlying collateral and built a formidable team of skilled personnel, specialising in this activity.
Before joining Phoenix ARC, he was with Kotak Group since June, 2005, in the Asset Reconstruction department and his key responsibilities comprised resolution and buyout of NPAs from other banks and financial institutions. Sharad has been responsible for acquiring NPAs with aggregate principal exceeding Rs. 3,500 crores on behalf of Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited (KMBL).
He was deputed as Consultant to the National Development Bank of Sri Lanka for training of their executives in the field of project appraisal, project monitoring and investment banking.
He is a chemical engineer with a postgraduate degree in business management. He also participated in the Advanced Management Program at Insead, France in 1994. He has also served on the Board of Directors of several leading corporates.
Shiraz Bugwadia
Director
o3 Capital
Shiraz Bugwadia heads o3 Capital’s Infrastructure and Healthcare investment banking teams. The Infrastructure team at o3 Capital brings the firm’s knowledge focused investment banking credo to transactions related to sectors such as energy, core infrastructure, logistics, mining, etc. Some of the representative transactions closed by the team include investment into Deepak Cables, a Bangalore-based EPC player, by IDFC PE and UTI Ventures, acquisition of ICS, a Senegalese fertilizer manufacturing unit by SenFer Holdings, acquisition of IntraVidyut, a South India-based transformer manufacturer, by Sudhir Gensets, and investment into Goodearth Maritime, a Chennai-based dry bulk shipping company, by IDFC PE.
Prior to founding o3 Capital, Mr Bugwadia was with Avendus Advisors and Rochem- a leading waste water treatment company. At Avendus, he led the life sciences practice. Mr Bugwadia has received a B.E. from Mumbai University and an M.B.A. from Melbourne Business School.
Ian Carew
Vice President
Northleaf Capital Partners
Mr. Carew participates in all aspects of Northleaf Capital Partners’ investment activities, including the origination, evaluation and monitoring of primary and secondary Fund Investments and Direct Co-Investments. He is primarily responsible for the investment sourcing and manager research relating to Northleaf’s Asia and Emerging Markets investments and is actively involved in Northleaf’s venture capital and growth investments in the United States and Canada. Mr. Carew serves on the advisory boards of several private equity partnerships within Northleaf’s portfolio.
Prior to joining Northleaf in 2008, Mr. Carew worked at CalPERS, helping manage a $40 billion private equity program, where he was responsible for the global venture capital and Asia private equity strategies. Previously, Mr. Carew was a Partner with KIMC, a boutique private equity advisory firm and spent six years in the venture capital group at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan executing a fund and co-investment strategy. Mr. Carew’s prior experience includes various financial and accounting roles.
Mr. Carew received a Bachelor of Commerce and Graduate Diploma in Accountancy from Concordia University and holds the Chartered Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst designations.
Amit Chandra
Managing Director
Bain Capital
Amit Chandra is Managing Director of Bain Capital Advisors and responsible for the firm's India initiative. Bain Capital is a leading global private investment firm that was an early pioneer in private equity and has consistently produced superior returns for its investors since 1984. The firm has invested more than $100 billion in over 350 companies in a variety of industries around the world. Amit has previously served as Managing Director, Board Member & Head of Global Markets & Investment Banking at DSP Merrill Lynch, India's leading investment bank. Amit is active in India's not for profit space and serves as a Trustee/Board Member of The Akanksha Foundation (providing education to less privileged children), and GiveIndia (India's leading philantrophic exchange).
Amit Chander
Managing Director
Baring Private Equity Partners India
Amit is the Head – Pharma & Healthcare, IT/ITES & Education Investments at Baring Private Equity Partners India and handles investment opportunities and portfolio companies in these respective sectors. He is also a Director on the Board of Sphaera Pharma – an integrated drug discovery and development company. He has worked in financial and business advisory in the past with leading Indian and Multinational companies. As part of the business consulting team at Accenture in India, he has advised clients on leveraging IT for business effectiveness and assisted clients in all change management issues associated with a large technology implementation. Prior to working with Accenture, he was with the world’s fourth largest and India’s most influential credit rating agency, CRISIL, where he was involved in advising private and public sector clients on divestments, financial reviews and operational benchmarking. He is a recipient of the Directors Silver Medal from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi where he graduated in Structural Engineering and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management (MBA) from Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow. At Baring India Amit also leads the Corporate Communication & Public Relations initiatives of the firm.
Doug Coulter
Head of Private Equity, Asia-Pacific
LGT Capital Partners
Doug Coulter joined LGT Capital Partners in early 2007 to lead its Asia Pacific private equity investment activities. Prior to LGT, Doug was a Senior Investment Officer for IFC, based in Hong Kong, responsible for sourcing, structuring, monitoring and exiting Asian investments in the TMT, retail & consumer and life sciences sectors.
Mr. Coulter has over 10 years of experience in private equity and investment banking. He previously worked at Nomura Securities in Hong Kong and as a lawyer at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP in Toronto, Canada. He holds an MBA from INSEAD in France, a M.Sc. from the London School of Economics, a law degree from the University of Western Ontario and a B.A. from Queen’s University in Canada.
Patricia M. Dinneen
Managing Director
Siguler Guff & Company LLC
Patricia M. Dinneen is a Managing Director of Siguler Guff and Company, LLC. She has primary responsibility for managing the BRIC Opportunities Funds, focusing on Brazil, Russia, India, China.
Prior to joining Siguler Guff in 2004, she was at Cambridge Associates, an independent financial consulting firm, where she led the emerging markets private equity advisory business, including asset allocation planning, market research, manager searches and due diligence. In collaboration with the major International Finance Institutions, she created the first comprehensive emerging markets private equity database to measure performance and to help professionalize the asset class.
Prior to joining Cambridge Associates, she founded a consulting firm specializing in telecommunications, working with start-up ventures. Previously, she worked for ten years at British Telecommunications in London where she held a variety of positions, involving investments and joint ventures in the US, Europe and Asia. She has also held positions at Hughes Communications, The RAND Corporation, and the White House.
Dr. Dinneen received her B.A. in Economics and Russian Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, her M.Sc. in Soviet Economics from the London School of Economics, and her Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, specializing in regulatory economics and technology.
Pratima Divgi
Investment Associate
Squadron Capital Advisors Ltd
Ms. Divgi is an Investment Associate of Squadron Capital, working principally on India- and South Asia-focused funds.
Prior to joining the Firm in 2008, Ms. Divgi was an associate at Capvent India Private Equity, focusing on private equity fund investing in developed and emerging markets across investment strategies. She was previously a senior officer with ICICI Bank in India and commenced her career as a dealer in Indian equities with Kotak Securities.
Ms. Divgi holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Financial Accounting, Auditing and Taxation and a Masters of Financial Services from Goa University.
Archana Hingorani
CEO & Executive Director
IL&FS Investment Managers
Dr. Archana Hingorani, Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director, IL&FS Investment Managers Limited.
Dr. Hingorani, Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director, IL&FS Investment Managers Limited, has over 24 years experience in the financial services business, teaching and research. Her focus has been on private equity, project finance and financial structuring, with a specialization in infrastructure, manufacturing and in real estate projects. She has been with the IL&FS Group for 16 years, and has performed a multitude of roles – starting off as an economist and moving on to project finance, and asset management. Dr. Hingorani has worked on some of the pioneering private finance transactions in India and has participated in negotiating and structuring project contracts, especially in the infrastructure and real estate sector. Dr Hingorani’s focus over the last 13 years has been on private equity fund management. She is one of the founding members of the IL&FS private equity business and has overseen investments with an aggregate capitalization value in excess of US$ 8 bn. In her present role as Chief Executive Officer, she leads an investment team of around 40 professionals.
Dr.Hingorani is a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) with post-graduate qualifications in Management (MBA) as well as a Ph.D. in Corporate Finance from the University of Pittsburgh, USA. She is also a member of United Nations Environment Programme, Finance Initiative, CII National Committee on Infrastructure Finance and is on the Advisory Council of Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA).
Sunil Jain
Chief Operating Officer
Green Infra Limited
Sunil is the Chief Operating Officer of Green Infra. He has over 27 years of experience in the engineering industry, particularly in the auto and infrastructure sectors. Prior to joining Green Infra, he had a long career in various positions with Escorts Ltd., a reputed diversified business group. His last position was as Associate Vice President (Marketing, Exports and Sourcing) of Escorts’ Engineering Division. He has extensive experience in business development, both in the domestic and international markets, and in handling commercial negotiations with customers and vendors alike. He has been actively involved in strategy planning, collaborations and identifying new business opportunities.
At Green Infra, Sunil has been instrumental in developing and commissioning the company’s 24 MW wind farm in Tamil Nadu under a group captive concept. Under his leadership, Green Infra recently acquired a 100 MW portfolio of operating wind assets from the British multinational BP, taking its total generating capacity to 124 MW and establishing Green Infra as India’s leading renewable energy independent power producer (IPP).
Sunil is a Mechanical Engineer from Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi and holds an MBA from Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University.
Atul Kapur
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Everstone Capital
Atul Kapur is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Everstone Capital, one of India’s premier alternative investment management platforms. Everstone manages assets in excess of $1 billion via dedicated private equity and real estate funds, including Indivision. Formerly, Atul spent twelve years at Goldman Sachs where he was Managing Director within the Principal Strategies Group (Goldman Sachs proprietary capital) in Europe. Prior to this. Atul worked for nine years in the Principal Investment Area of Goldman Sachs in Asia and Europe, deploying Goldman Sachs’ Capital Partner’s family of funds. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Delhi and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.
Munesh Khanna
Managing Director, Investment Banking
Centrum Capital Limited
Munesh has over 20 years of experience in the financial, regulatory and taxation domain. He has a extensive network of relationships with Indian Corporates. Apart from investment and management experience, Munesh has been involved on the sell-side Investment Banking and Corporate Advisory Services with special emphasis on raising resources from Capital Markets and Private Equity, Merger & Acquisition, establishing joint ventures and corporate restructuring.
Munesh is currently the Managing Director , Investment Banking of Centrum Capital Limited. Prior to this Munesh was a Partner of Halcyon Resources & Management Private Limited. Halcyon identifies and invests in opportunities involving a high level of management involvement. In his capacity as Partner of Halcyon, he is also the Chairman of Anagram Capital Limited, a pan Indian brokerage and financial services company.
His experience includes taking leadership of Indian operations of NM Rothschild & Sons in 2002 and turning it around into a leading M&A house in India by completing transactions such as India’s largest restructuring of the Enron Assets in India, as well as managing the largest acquisition by an Indian Pharmaceutical Company, both named as Euromoney Deal of the Year
At Arthur Andersen, Munesh ran and repositioned AA’s financial consulting practice as a leading corporate finance practice in India. He led the acquisition and integration of a domestic Investment Bank, IndGlobal into AA, and managed landmark transactions such as the Tata’s acquisition of Tetley.
Munesh is a Chartered Accountant from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Munesh is a member of the Young Presidents Organisation (YPO), a worldwide network of 20,000 leaders in 100 nations. He has been a Member of CII, a member of the Executive Committee of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry ('FICCI'), and Co-Chairman of the Finance & Capital Market committee of FICCI. In September 2008, he was a member of Business India’s Panel for selection of India’s Best Bank.
Sid Khanna
Chairman, India
India Equity Partners
Sid is the Chairman of India Equity Partners’ (“IEP”) India operations and a Managing Director of IEP. He has over 30 years of financial services, strategic advisory, operations and outsourcing experience. Sid joined Accenture (Arthur Andersen) in 1977 and spent the next ten years working for major public sector clients and almost all major banks and insurance companies in the UK. He was admitted to the partnership in 1987. Sid moved to India in 1987 to establish the India operations of Accenture and pioneered the consulting model in India. He has worked with almost all major Indian and multinational business groups. Sid was responsible for the start of Accenture offshore IT and BPO in India, which has since grown to over 35,000 people. In 2001, Sid moved to London as a global managing partner. He retired from Accenture in 2006 and currently resides in Mumbai, India. Sid serves on the boards of United Spirits, Peninsula Holdings and HSBC Insurance. He is a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales and received a Bachelor in Arts from St. Stephens College, New Delhi.
S. Khasnobis
Managing Director & CEO
Asset Reconstruction Company (India) Ltd.
S. Khasnobis has been the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Arcil since July 2006. A mechanical engineer, Mr. Khasnobis has over 25 years of experience in project finance, structured finance and stressed asset resolution. He had earlier been on deputation to Arcil from ICICI Bank Limited as President & Chief Operating Officer.
Mr. Khasnobis has been responsible for making Arcil operational, being involved in the conceptualisation and implementation of the business model and the framing of business policies and strategies. He has been involved in the development of guidelines and framework for asset reconstruction in India and familiarising the Indian banking system to the business of asset reconstruction.
Mr. Khasnobis has led large teams of skilled professionals and has shown a consistent track record in the areas of development banking, project financing, corporate credit, investment banking, structured finance, technology funding, stressed assets management and workout. Before joining Arcil, he was heading the special assets management group of ICICI Bank Limited.
Ajay Lal
Managing Director
AIF Capital
Mr. Lal joined AIF Capital in 1997 and has led investments across sectors, including manufacturing, banking, telecom, power and steel, in India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Korea. AIF Capital’s earlier investments in India include Bharti AirTel, GVK Power and Yes Bank. After nearly eight years in Hong Kong, Mr. Lal relocated to New Delhi in 2006 to head AIF Capital’s office in India. AIF Capital has since invested over US$150 million in India – these include investments in GPT Steel, Catholic Syrian Bank, Bharti Infratel and BioPlus Life Sciences.
Mr. Lal has more than 20 years of experience in private equity, project finance and corporate banking. He represents AIF Capital on the boards of various portfolio companies and is also an independent director on the board of Bharti Airtel Limited, India’s largest private telco. Prior to joining AIF Capital, Mr. Lal worked with AIG Investment Corporation (India Head) and Bank of America (Vice President – Head Financial Institutions Group). Mr. Lal is an engineer from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi and holds an MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. He is also an AMP graduate from Harvard Business School.
Ajay lives in Delhi with his wife, Punita, and two children. His son regularly beats him at tennis, but Ajay is still holding his own at squash against his daughter!
Chihtsung Lam
Managing Director
Axiom Asia Private Capital
Chihtsung Lam is founder and Managing Director of Axiom Asia Private Capital, an Asia focused private equity fund of funds management firm. Prior to founding Axiom, Chihtsung Lam was Executive Vice President at GIC Special Investments, one of the world’s largest and most reputable private equity investors. He was a member of its global Investment Committee and management committee. He was formerly head of the Global Technology Group, responsible for all VC fund and direct investments in the U.S., Asia and Europe.
Chihtsung held four positions at GIC SI during his 12 year stint as a private equity investment professional. Prior to heading the Global Technology Group, Chihtsung was head of the Direct Investment Asia Group, responsible for all direct investments (excluding infrastructure) in Asia, which includes activities in Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia and India. Immediately before that, he was head of the North America Division, where he was responsible for GIC SI’s portfolio of buyout and growth funds in North America. His first position in GIC SI was as an investment manager for the Northeast Asia Division, where he was responsible principally for making investments in China.
Prior to joining GIC SI, Chihtsung had two and a half years of Asian investment banking experience at Schroders (now part of Citigroup). His first job was in the Singapore Government, where he was Deputy Director at the Ministry of Communications. Chihtsung has a degree in Philosophy from Cambridge University. Chihtsung was a Singapore Government Overseas Merit Scholar and was both an entrance and senior scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge.
Jai Mavani
Executive Director
KPMG Financial Advisory Services
• Jai Mavani, a Chartered Accountant and a commerce graduate from Sydenham College, Mumbai, India, has more than 17 years of work experience with international consulting firms both in India and Singapore. He has been with the India firm for over ten years and worked out of Mumbai and Bangalore offices.
• Jai specialises in M&A and inbound advisory with a focus on the real estate , infrastructure, private equity and retail sectors. Jai has extensive experience in advising foreign companies on entry strategy, M&A, regulatory approvals and devising tax-efficient ownership and operating structures.
• Jai has advised a number of private equity, realty and infrastructure funds in developing fund structures and consummating their investments across sectors. In addition, Jai has worked on several overseas floats, particularly on Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and SGX.
• Jai heads the Infrastructure, Government and Healthcare practice of KPMG in India and is and is also actively involved in several infrastructure and realty transactions.
Ranjeet Nabha
Managing Director & CEO
WL Ross India
Mr. Ranjeet Nabha is responsible for WL Ross’ India initiatives. He is a Board Member of India Asset Recovery Management Limited (IARM) that advises on investments made in the areas of corporate turnarounds and restructurings in India by the India Asset Recovery Fund LP (IARF), WLR Recovery Fund III LP, and WLR Recovery Fund IV LP, amongst other WL Ross funds. He was instrumental in forging the alliance between WL Ross & Co. LLC (WL Ross) and Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd. (HDFC), and helped raise the capital for IARF. In 2007, IARF, along with other investors, completed the acquisition of OCM India Limited (OCM), a leading textile company, and in 2008 invested in one of India’s leading low cost airlines, SpiceJet Limited. Mr. Nabha serves on the boards of OCM India Limited and SpiceJet Limited.
Prior to joining WL Ross, Mr. Nabha was Chief Executive Officer & Chairman of Voicemate, a US-based venture-backed technology company focused on restructuring call-center operating costs via automation. Before that, Mr. Nabha was a Vice President at J.P.Morgan & Co. in New York where he advised US, European, Japanese and Indian companies on restructurings, mergers/acquisitions, capital raising and privatisations. Before that, Mr. Nabha worked on similar projects at S.G. Warburg, a U.K.-based investment bank. He also worked for Deloitte & Touche’s strategy, Braxton Associates, and audit departments in Los Angeles. Mr. Nabha was awarded his CPA license during his tenure at Deloitte & Touche. He graduated with a BA in Business Economics (Finance & Accounting) from UC Santa Barbara in 1989 and earned his MBA at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in 1994.
Sandeep Naik
Co-Head
Apax Partners India Advisers Pvt. Ltd
Sandeep Naik joined Apax Partners in 2004. He is the co-founder of the Apax Partners India office and leads their Investments in Healthcare, Financial & Business Services and Retail& Consumer Group.
Prior to joining Apax, Sandeep was a Global Marketing Manager at Medtronic, Scientist at Mayo Clinic and a Consultant with McKinsey. He is also the co-founder of a medical device start up firm, InfraScan Inc.
Sandeep's deal experience while at Apax includes Apollo Hospitals, Esprit Pharma, Xanodyne and Spectrum Labs. In addition he managed a vast portfolio of Healthcare investments spanning healthcare services, medical devices and specialty pharmaceuticals during his stint at Apax in the US.
Sandeep has done his MS in Biomedical Engineering from Medical College of Virginia and MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Shankar Narayanan
Managing Director
The Carlyle Group
Shankar Narayanan is a Managing Director responsible for leading growth capital investments in India. He is based in Mumbai.
Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Narayanan spent six years at Hathway Investments in Mumbai and during that time served as Managing Director and CEO. He was also with Deutsche Bank Capital Partners, based in Hong Kong, as a Director covering South Asia and India. Mr. Narayanan has led or been associated with a number of prominent private equity investments in India, including Johnson Tiles, Exide Industries, Hathway Cable, Asianet Satellite Communications, Pushpa Polymers, Tata Infomedia, and AFL Limited. He had served on the Board of Directors of all these Companies. Prior to Hathway Investments, Mr. Narayanan worked at Citibank in Mumbai.
Mr. Narayanan is associated with PE investments in Newgen Imaging Systems, Allsec Technologies, Repco Home Finance, Claris Lifesciences, Great Offshore, Financial Software & Systems, Learning Mate Solutions, QuEST, etc., and has served / is serving on the boards of these companies.
Mr. Narayanan received a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from XLRI Jamshedpur where he was a Gold Medalist and stood first in the graduating class in the area of Finance and Accounting, and a Bachelor of Technology degree in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi.
Sanjay Nayar
CEO
KKR India
Sanjay Nayar (Mumbai) joined KKR in 2009. Previously, he spent 24 years at Citigroup, most recently as CEO of Citi’s Indian and South Asian operations and as a member of Citigroup’s Asia Executive Operating Committee and Global Senior Leadership Committee. Citi India was one of the leading international franchises of Citi encompassing Consumer, Corporate, and Investment Banking. Mr. Nayar was the Deputy Chairman of the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), Chairman of the Foreign Banks’ Committee of the IBA, a member of the Board of USIBC, Co-Chairman of the Banking Committee for the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), and Co-Chairman of the Habitat for Humanity India Builds campaign. He has also participated in various financial sector reform committees set up by the Indian government and domestic regulators – Infrastructure Committee in 2008, and currently on the Committee by Reserve Bank of India to build a “Centre for Advanced Financial Learning” (CAFL). Currently, he is on the board of large NGOs such as Habitat for Humanity and Pratham.
Pinal Nicum
Principal
Coller Capital
Pinal Nicum is a Principal responsible for the origination and execution of investments. He focuses on the UK, Indian and Middle East markets and is a member of the Investment Committee.
Pinal joined Coller Capital in 2001 during the investment of Coller International Partners III, and has since been involved in all aspects of the secondary process. He has managed a number of the firm's innovative transactions, including the acquisitions of Abbey National's, and Deutsche Bank's fund portfolios, and India's first two secondary transactions – with ICICI Venture, and IL&FS Investment Managers. He is also a member of the advisory board of Leverage India Fund.
Previously, Pinal was Business Development Manager at The Rank Group Plc, the UK leisure conglomerate, where he led various strategy/M&A projects, including the disposals of Odeon Cinemas to Cinven and Tom Cobleigh Pubs to Electra. Pinal joined Rank in 1998 from Coopers & Lybrand Corporate Finance, London.
Pinal has a BSc in Economics from The London School of Economics and Political Science, and is a UK Chartered Accountant.
Olivia Ouyang
Investment Officer
International Finance Corporation
Olivia Ouyang is an Investment Officer with the Private Equity & Investment Funds Department of IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. In her capacity as Regional Lead for South Asia, she is responsible for developing IFC's fund investment and supervision program, as well as originating co-investment opportunities. Prior to moving to Mumbai and covering South Asia, she spent three years as Regional Lead for East Asia and led IFC's fund investment program in China and Southeast Asia.
Prior to IFC, Ms. Ouyang spent eight years in management consulting, investment banking and private equity, with McKinsey, Morgan Stanley and Jupiter Partners respectively. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Stanford University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Pranav Parikh
Managing Director
Q-India Investment Advisors
Mr. Parikh is the Managing Director of Q-India Investment Advisors and is responsible for the all Q Investments' India initiatives. The Fund has invested in private companies in various industries including telecommunications, Food, financial services, as well as real estate market and publicly listed securities in India. Mr. Parikh has 10 years of investing experience in the global markets with exposure to Q’s multi-strategy approach and focus towards risk-adjusted returns. With long tenure at Q as a portfolio manager starting in the US markets, he has successfully invested across various asset classes and strategies including Private Equity, Merger Arbitrage, Convertible Arbitrage, High Yield and Distressed debt. Prior to that, he was a senior credit rating analyst with ICRA Ltd., a Moody’s affiliate and one of the largest credit rating agencies in India. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of various companies in diverse industries in India and has also served on public company boards in the US. Mr. Parikh earned a BE in Industrial Engineering at MS University in India and graduated with honors in the MBA program from UTA with a concentration in finance. In addition, Mr. Parikh is a CFA charter holder from CFA Institute, USA
Raja Parthasarathy
Managing Director
IDFC Private Equity
Raja Parthasarathy is a Managing Director with IDFC Private Equity, an Indian infrastructure-focused private equity manager which manages US$1.3 billion across three funds. Mr. Parthasarathy is on the boards of Manipal Health Systems, International Recreation Parks and Green Infra Ltd. Prior to joining IDFC Private Equity, he was Executive Vice President – Finance with Jet Airways, India’s leading private-sector airline, and was earlier with UBS, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers. Raja holds an MBA from INSEAD, an MA in Economics from Tufts University and a BA in Economics from Hamilton College.
Roopa Purushothaman
Head of Research
Everstone Capital
Roopa Purushothaman heads Research, the research effort of Everstone Investment Advisors. In her role, she covers macro and thematic issues on demographics, income and consumption patterns. The group's last research paper (The Next Urban Frontier: Twenty Cities to Watch), in partnership with the National Council of Applied Economic Research, analyzed spending, savings and demographic patterns in twenty of India's most dynamic urban centers. She is a member of the Prime Minister’s advisory committee for JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission).
Previously, Roopa was a vice president and global economist at Goldman Sachs. While at GS, Roopa co-authored the report: Dreaming with BRICs: The Path to 2050, along with other published papers on topics such as long-term growth in India, global trade, migration, women's employment and global aging and consumption patterns.
Roopa holds a BA in Ethics, Politics and Economics and International Studies from Yale University and an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics.
Bruno Raschle
CEO
Adveq Management AG
Bruno has 25 years of experience in private equity investing. In 1997 he founded Adveq that offers international investors a range of targeted fund of funds products and expertise on the global world of private equity. Bruno pioneered venture capital fund of funds for investments in the US since the mid 1980s when he founded the MC Partners investment program of Swiss based Motor-Columbus.
Bruno holds an MSc in Construction Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and an MSc in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.
Harsha Raghavan
Former Managing Director & Head of India
Candover Partners
Harsha Raghavan is a Former Managing Director and Head of India at Candover Partners. Prior to joining Candover in late 2008, Harsha was Executive Director with Goldman Sachs Principal Investment Area ("PIA"), the $8.5 billion global private equity buyout fund within Goldman Sachs.
Harsha moved with Goldman Sachs from New York to Mumbai, having previously been based in London, and has been involved in a number of buyout and growth equity transactions across these geographies. He started his career in 1995 with Indocean Chase Capital Partners, the Indian investment arm of JP Morgan Partners in India, and was involved in a number of landmark public and private Indian transactions in the mid and late '90s.
Harsha was schooled in Mumbai, and subsequently received a BA in Computer Science & Economics from UC Berkeley, and MS in Industrial Engineering and MBA degrees from Stanford University.
Sandeep Reddy
Founder & Managing Director
Peepul Capital
Sandeep Reddy is a Founder and Managing Director of Peepul Capital, an India-centric Private Equity investor with investments focused on execution-risk and have spanned Early Stage, Growth and Buy-out opportunities in it’s chosen domains across the sectors of Technology Products & Services, Media & Entertainment, Consumer Products & Services and Specialized Engineering.
He has been one of the early participants in the rapidly evolving Indian Private Equity industry having been active for a decade. He takes overall responsibility in defining and executing Peepul’s strategy. In that role he has spawned and built a number of entities as well as driven migration through their lifecycles.
Peepul Capital has been involved in sponsoring over 26 companies.
Sandeep’s educational qualifications are a BS in Computer Science & Finance from Utah State University and an MBA from IMD (Switzerland).
He also has 10 years of experience in Strategy consulting with Price Waterhouse in San Francisco and with Andersen Consulting in London.
Sandeep is an active participant on the boards of several companies – public and private. He is intimately involved in entrepreneurial activities tying opportunities in India to the US & Europe.
Maninder Saluja
Co-head, Emerging Markets Private Equity
Quilvest
Maninder Saluja focuses on emerging markets private equity at Quilvest, a global institution that primarily manages the investments for one large family group as well as third party investors. Mani is involved in both the fund and direct private equity investment activities of the group.
Prior to joining Quilvest, Mani worked at Alvarez & Marsal, a crisis management and restructuring firm, where he assisted various North & South American companies and their creditors with operational and financial turnaround situations. Mani also worked in the New York and Hong Kong offices of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, where he worked on a variety of high yield, M&A, restructuring, public and private equity transactions in the United States, Western Europe, Russia, South America and Asia. In addition, Mani worked as the Director of Finance and Strategic Planning for a US based regional communications provider.
Mani received his MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BBA with a concentration in finance from the University of Michigan.
Vijay Sambamurthi
Founder
Lexygen
Vijay Sambamurthi is the founder of Lexygen, a pan Indian law firm having offices in Bangalore and Singapore, focused on providing premium legal representation to a global clientele in the areas of private equity/venture capital, M&A and infrastructure privatization, amongst others.
Vijay graduated from the prestigious National Law School, Bangalore, and has more than a decade of legal transactional experience.
At Lexygen, Vijay regularly represents and advises several global private equity funds and corporations on their Indian investments. Some of the prominent clients that Vijay represents include Baring Private Equity Asia, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Fund, Bessemer Venture Partners, Sycamore Ventures, Changi Airport Managers & Partners, Lighthouse Funds, Blue Run Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, TriMont Real Estate Advisors, MedicAlert Foundation, Direct Information Group, Shriram Group, Sanmina-SCI, etc.
Dimple Sanghi
Managing Director &- Private Equity
Everstone Capital
Dimple Sanghi, is the Managing Director, of Everstone Capital Investment Advisors Ltd based in Mumbai. Everstone Capital is one of India's premier alternative asset management firms with offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Singapore and Mauritius. Everstone focuses its investments within the private equity and real estate space via dedicated funds including Indivision, a $425 million private equity fund. Everstone follows an active and operational investment style with a focus on growth and buyouts. Currently Everstone has assets under management in excess of $1 billion.
Before joining Everstone Capital Investment Advisors Ltd, Ms Sanghi did a short stint with Blackstone, India, assisting Blackstone to set up office in Mumbai including sourcing and managing private equity transactions. Prior to Blackstone Ms Sanghi was with AIG, India, as Manager Private Equity Group and responsible for managing assets over US$ 150mn which included investment in Ambuja Cement, Biocon and Indraprastha Gas. She began her career in Investment Banking with Lazard India, in 1994, followed by HSBC and Societe Generale.
Ms Sanghi received her Law degree from Mumbai in 1994 and is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Krishan Sehgal
Founder
Kaup Capital Singapore
Krishan Sehgal is the founder and Managing Director of Kris Fund Management LTD, which is the Investment Manager for Infrastructure India Holdings Fund LLC. Krishan Sehgal is also the founder of KAUP Capital Singapore, which advises Kris fund Management.
Krishan has been an investor in India for over 30 years. He was Chief Investment Officer of International Finance Corporation Washington, where he worked for 21 years. Subsequently, he was head of Asian Infrastructure for AMP Capital Investors for over six years. He founded and launched Kris Fund and Kaup Capital in 2007.
Krishan holds B. Tech from IIT Delhi, MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and was an IAS officer of the 1973 batch.
Parag Shah
Managing Partner
Mahindra Partners
Mr. Parag Shah has been associated with the Mahindra Group for over 10 years. At present, he is Managing Partner of Mahindra Partners, a $500mn division that manages various diversified and new businesses of the Group like Steel Trading & Services, Logistics, Retail, and Boats.
Prior to this, he worked for the Office of the Vice Chairman & Managing Director, and was involved in New Business Development for the Group. He was also Chief Executive Officer of Officemartindia Ltd., a consulting and trading company within the same Group. Before joining the Mahindra Group, Mr. Shah was Managing Director of Systems Marketing India Pvt. Ltd., a family business with interests in Manufacturing, Investment Banking and Trading.
Mr. Shah holds a BS degree in Computer Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology with special electives in Psychology and Manufacturing Technology. He is also a graduate of the General Management Program, Harvard Business School.
Mr. Shah also holds Director positions on the Board of several Mahindra Group companies. He is associated with various prestigious associations, and is an Executive Committee member of AAA, Sabarkanta Relief Committee and JBS Family Trust. He also sits on the Board of Executive Without Borders (U.S), a NGO that has been co-founded by him.
Anubha Shrivastava
Managing Director, Asia
CDC Group
Anubha Shrivastava is a Managing Director at CDC Group plc, a fund of funds business owned by the British Government that invests in the developing economies of Africa, Asia and Latin America. She is responsible for the Asian investment portfolio spanning across South and South-East Asia and China. Anubha Shrivastava commenced her private equity career in 1999 with General Motors Asset Management’s Private Equity Group in New York, USA. She was involved in the global private equity fund-of-funds portfolio as well as the global co-investment program. Thereafter she worked at Performance Equity Management, LLC, where she was responsible for managing the European fund-of-funds and co-investment portfolios.
Anubha Shrivastava started her career in Arthur Andersen and went on to work with Hambrecht & Quist, USA prior to joining General Motors Asset Management.
Kunal Shroff
Managing Director
ChrysCapital
Kunal joined ChrysCapital Investment Advisors in September 1999 and heads the firm's Mumbai office. He currently serves on the board of New Path Ventures, Parksons Packaging and Simplex Infrastructures and has previously served as a board member at Gammon India and IVRCL.
Kunal was previously at Chilton Investment Company, a $2 billion hedge fund, where he focused on the U.S. equity markets. Prior to that he worked in the Principal Investment Area at Goldman Sachs in New York, pursuing investment opportunities and monitoring portfolio companies for a $5.5 billion family of private equity and mezzanine funds. Kunal received a BS in computer science with magna cum laude honors from Cornell University.
M.K. Sinha
President & CEO
IDFC Project Equity Co. Ltd
M.K. Sinha is an investment professional with about 20 years of significant international experience and is currently President & CEO of IDFC Project Equity Co. Ltd that manages the US$ 927MM India Infrastructure Fund. Prior to this, he was the Executive Director of IDFC for two years between 2005-'07 where he was responsible for the Business Development and Infrastructure Project Finance activities.
Prior to joining IDFC, he worked with the General Electric Company in the Commercial Finance division for over 10 years across US, UK, Hong Kong and Singapore. Before that, he worked with Bank of America and SBI Capital Markets in Corporate Finance and Investment Banking areas respectively.
M.K. Sinha holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a B.Tech (Hons.) in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.
PR Srinivasan
India Region Head
Citigroup Venture Capital
PR Srinivasan (PRS), is the India Region Head for Citi Venture Capital International (CVCI). PRS has over 17 years of private equity investing experience in India spanning four funds. PRS leads a team of 10 investment professionals who manage an investment portfolio valued at over a billion US dollars.
Previously PRS was employed in HSBC Private Equity, where he was a co-founder of the India operations. PRS started his investing career at ICICI Ventures, which was then called TDICI. PRS also worked as an Engineer in a premier Indian defense contractor, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
PRS’s investment track record includes investments in Suzlon, Axis Bank, Yes Bank, JSW and Balrampur Chini. PRS currently serves on the Boards of JBF Industries, KSOIL, Sharekhan, YOU Broadband and Ind Barath Power.
PRS is a graduate in Mechanical Engineering from College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai and a post graduate in Management from Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.
Gopal Srinivasan
Chairman of the PE Committ
Confederation of Indian Industry
Gopal is the Founder and a Chairman of TVS-Electronics, Director of Sundaram-Clayton Ltd, and several other TVS Group businesses. Gopal has incubated over eight businesses, and has over twenty five years of operational experience in India, along with a wide network of relationships across the world. Gopal has been serving as the Board member of several Indian companies further, he was the Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Tamil Nadu State Council for the fiscal year 2007-08. . He chaired the "India@75" Mission (www.indiaat75.in) during 2008-09 and is currently chairing CII National Committee for Private Equity & Venture Capital. He is also the Chairman for India-Taiwan task force at CII National Council. He has served as the President of Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT) for the fiscal year ‘95-96. Gopal earned a B.Com from Loyola College, Chennai and an MBA from University of Michigan, USA.
Over the course of his career, Gopal has founded several companies operating in diverse sectors including computer peripherals, technology, financial services, and auto components. Many of these businesses started by Gopal are operational today, and a professional management team is in place to run these businesses. TVS Electronics, a company he established in 1986 has revenue of about Rs.191 crores in 2008-09. The company provides transaction automation products and has market leadership position in the dot-matrix printer segment. Another business that Gopal started, Harita Seating, is in the business of manufacturing and supplying vehicle seats and has sales of Rs.198 crores in 2008-09. Other companies that Gopal has founded and are currently operational include TVS Finance & Services, Harita Plastics, TVS-E Technology, TVS-E Servicetec and Harita Techserv. In addition, Gopal has successfully exited several businesses including TVS Whirlpool, TVS Contract Manufacturing, Harita Networks etc.
Anand Sunderji
Director
Guggenheim Capital Management (Asia) Private Limited
Anand Sunderji is a Director of the Fund of Funds operations at Guggenheim Capital Management (Asia) Private Limited. He was previously a Director of the Fund of Funds operations in India for Thomas Weisel Partners and joined Guggenheim, as a result of the transaction between Guggenheim Partners and Thomas Weisel Partners in December 2008. Anand has over 15 years of experience in asset management and prior to Thomas Weisel, he headed the Asian Fund of Funds operation for Adveq, where he was responsible for fund investments in India, China, Japan and Australia. Prior to Adveq, Anand was head of private equity and hedge funds at the World Economic Forum where he was responsible for projects in India and China. He initially worked as senior equity portfolio manager at INVESCO, managing a US$850mn equity and derivatives portfolio. Anand has a B.Sc (Honours) in Chemistry and Chemical Technology from University of Bradford, U.K.
Paresh Thakker
Managing Director
Religare Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd.
Mr Paresh Thakker comes with over 18 years of experience in private equity, venture capital, mergers & acquisitions, valuations and investments. He has wide experience in strategy formulation, fund raising efforts, deal flow originations and screening, analysis and monitoring of investments. At Religare he is spearheading the ‘Fund of Funds’ initiative.
Paresh has previously worked as the Managing Director of Evolvence Advisory Services Private Limited (India) and as the Investment Principal with Infinity Ventures (India). Paresh has also worked with Global Consultants Inc. (New York) and Merrill Lynch (India). He has also represented on the Investment Committee and Board of several underlying investments.
Paresh is CFA Charter Holder (AIMR, USA), Chartered Accountant (India), Cost Accountant (India) and Company Secretary (India), Bachelor of Commerce from Mumbai University.
Sebastiaan van den Berg
Principal
HarbourVest Partners (Asia) Limited
Sebastiaan van den Berg joined HarbourVest’s Hong Kong-based subsidiary in 2005 as a vice president and became a principal in 2009. He is responsible for partnership investments in Asia Pacific and other non-U.S. markets.
Sebastiaan joined the Firm from H&Q Asia Pacific where he focused on mid-market buyout transactions in Greater China, Korea, and Japan. His previous experience also includes positions with AlpInvest Partners N.V. in Amsterdam, Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C. in Hong Kong, and Goldman Sachs International in London. Sebastiaan serves on the advisory boards of several international private equity partnerships, including funds managed by Brait Capital Partners, Castle Harlan Australian Mezzanine Partners (CHAMP), CVC Capital Partners Asia Pacific, MKS Consulting, Unison Capital Partners, and Unitas Capital.
Sebastiaan received a Doctorandus degree in International Financial Economics from the Universiteit van Amsterdam in 1995 and an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1996. He speaks Dutch and French.
Rebecca Xu
Co-founder & Managing Director
Asia Alternatives Management LLC
Rebecca Xu is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of Asia Alternatives. Ms. Xu leads Asia Alternatives’ Beijing office and is also a part of the Hong Kong office. She is on the Firm’s Investment Committee and leads Asia Alternatives’ investments in expansion and growth capital funds, focusing mostly in China, India and South East Asia.
Prior to starting Asia Alternatives, Ms. Xu was a Senior Investment Officer at the Funds Group of the International Finance Corporation (“IFC”), the private sector investment arm of the World Bank Group. There, she had the primary responsibility of leading IFC’s fund investing and portfolio supervision in Asia for over six years. Previously, Ms. Xu also worked at McKinsey & Co, Inc. (Washington D.C.) and HSBC (Hong Kong).
Ms. Xu received an MBA from Harvard Business School and holds a Bachelors degree in International Relations from the Foreign Affairs College in Beijing, China. Ms. Xu grew up in China and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and English.
Ms. Xu currently serves on the Advisory Boards for CDH China Fund III, CDH Venture Partners I and II, Hony Capital Fund III, Hony Capital Fund 2008, Capital Today China Growth Fund and CX Partners.
Aazar Zafar
Principal, Private Equity
Alberta Investment Management Corporation
Aazar Zafar is a Principal, Private Equity with AIMCo (Alberta Investment Management Corporation). AIMCo invests more than US$55 billion on behalf of public sector pension, endowment and special purpose funds. AIMCo Private Equity acquires and manages equity interests in a wide range of industries in both the developed and emerging market. The Private Equity program has a global mandate and actively invests both in externally-managed funds and directly in assets alongside funds, within equity consortia, or solely.
Aazar is responsible for and manages AIMCo Private Equity’s investments in Asia, has relationships on several North American based global funds, and has worked on and completed several direct and co-investment transactions. Aazar currently serves as an Observer on the Board of Directors of one co-investment and serves on several Fund Advisory Committees.
Aazar has been with AIMCo for three years. Prior to joining AIMCo, Aazar was at OMERS, another Canadian based pension fund. He also previously worked at PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), Arthur Andersen and RIM (maker of the blackberry).
Aazar is a Chartered Accountant and CFA Charterholder. He earned his Master’s of Accounting and BA(Honours) from the University of Waterloo.
Harsha Bhogle
Commentator
ESPN STAR Sports
Speaker bio coming soon
Gautam Kainth
Vice President (Investments)
Religare Private Equity
Speaker bio coming soon
