There is a newfound affinity among private equity firms towards investment bankers and management consultants.
Sid Khanna joins as CMD, KK Iyer, S Sampathkumar as managing directors
MUMBAI: There is a newfound affinity among private equity firms towards investment bankers and management consultants.
Or, so it seems from the high-profile movements from both these groups to private equity in recent times. Consultant firm McKinsey & Co has been a favoured hiring destination.
But, in a fresh development, Accenture, a global consulting firm that established a presence in the country much earlier than McKinsey, has got its due share of recognition from private equity.
Sid Khanna, credited with bringing consulting firm Accenture to India in 1987, has joined as chairman and managing director of India Equity Partners (IEP). Khanna, who worked with Accenture for 29 years, had retired as its global managing partner, based in London, in 2006.
Along with Khanna come KK Iyer and Sudarshan Sampathkumar, also part of the early management team that built Accenture in India. Both have joined IEP as managing directors.
Several ex-McKinsey hands have made their presence felt in private equity. One of the earliest moves was by McKinsey partner Manish Kejriwal, who joined Temasek Holdings to head its India operations in 2004. In late 2006, former global chief of McKinsey, Rajat Gupta, along with some others, started his own private equity fund, NSR Advisors. More recently, last year, Ranjit Pandit, chairman of McKinsey & Co India joined as managing director of General Atlantic’s Mumbai office, and Leo Puri, a director at McKinsey & Co India, was hired as managing director of Warburg Pincus.
But, the three moves from Accenture to IEP highlight that, going forward, it won’t be just McKinsey that will face the risk of losing its consultants to private equity.
Steven Wisch, managing partner of IEP, said, “Between the three of them (referring to his new partners from Accenture), they have worked with every big corporate group in India, and their vision, global experience, industry insights and execution experience will add to our team’s skill base.”
“We also hope to do grass-roots level research to identify new and emerging sectors in which IEP can invest,” said Sampathkumar.
That says a lot about the role a consultant can play in a private equity firm.
India-focused IEP currently has $350 million under management. It has so far made seven investments in the country, including Bharti Infratel, Ikya, Mannapuram group, Jai Balaji and Ocean Sparkle.
Anurag Bhargava, based in New York, and Gaurav Mathur, based in Mumbai are the other two partners in the private equity firm.
sanat_vallikappen@dnaindia.net
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