CA Media India, an Asian investment arm of The Chernin Group, LLC (TCG), has promoted Rajesh Kamat as chief operating officer (COO) who will be relocating to Singapore starting April 2014. Kamat, currently the CEO of the firm, will report to Paul Aiello, CA Media Group’s Hong Kong-based CEO.
In his new role, Kamat will provide strategic guidance to the group's existing portfolio of investments in the region and will also support Aiello in identifying and managing growth opportunities for CA Media in Asia.
“Moving from a country role to a region profile is both exciting as well as challenging given the diversity of the key Asian markets and our unique portfolio of assets. I look forward to the challenge ahead,” Kamat said.
Kamat will continue to oversee CA Media operations in India while the senior management team – Vivek Raicha and Rishi Negi – will continue to lead their respective domains, as heads of India Investments and India Investee Operations, respectively.
“As we move into our next phase of growth, it is critical to have a structure that supports our operations and continued expansion plans in Asia. Rajesh’s new expanded role in the region will help the group achieve this objective,” siad Peter Chernin, chairman of TCG.
Previously Kamat worked with companies like Viacom18 Group as COO and Colors as CEO. He also worked with Endemol India and was involved in the formation of distribution JV Sun18 too. Before Endemol, Kamat spent close to five years at Star India, where he held key positions across various functions.
CA Media is promoted by former News Corporation COO Peter Chernin’s Chernin Group and former Star TV Asia CEO Paul Aiello; it is a hybrid of an investment firm and an operating company. One arm of the company is involved in television & film production while another arm invests in companies like Flipboard, Tumblr, Pandora and Fullscreen.
The current investment portfolio includes Endemol India, Only Much Louder (OML), Graphic India and a wholly owned online influencer network, FLUENCE that is led by former Dhingana executive Ashish Joshi.
Since CA Media’s investment, Endemol India has transformed itself from being principally a non-scripted television content production company to one that is producing content across multiple screens, including TV, films and digital. OML is India’s premier music, live events and youth media company, with music festival brands such as NH7. While Graphic India is establishing its position as one of India's leading character entertainment companies, FLUENCE has already become India’s leading online influencer network, connecting celebrities, consumers and brands to create exciting media properties that can be monetised across various consumer facing digital platforms.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
