Arundhati Bhattacharya, the former chairperson of public sector lender State Bank of India, has joined homegrown private equity firm ChrysCapital as an adviser.
ChrysCapital confirmed the appointment to VCCircle.
Bhattacharya will work alongside the PE firm’s managing partner Kunal Shroff and others to advise the company on strategy, a person in the know told VCCircle.
She will also be an integral part of the meetings for the PE firm’s global institutional investors and will serve as a mentor to the team, the person added.
Bhattacharya retired as SBI’s chief in October 2017 and was replaced by Rajnish Kumar.
The development was first reported by The Economic Times.
On Tuesday, The Times of India reported that Bhattacharya may join the financial services business of Ajay Piramal-led Piramal Enterprises.
Besides Bhattacharya, Vineet Nayar, the former vice chairman and chief executive at HCL Technologies, is also an adviser at the PE firm.
ChrysCapital
Founded in 1999, ChrysCapital manages assets of around $3 billion across seven funds. It largely provides growth capital to companies in India across sectors such as consumer goods and business services, infrastructure, manufacturing, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, information technology and financial services.
In August, VCCircle reported that the PE firm was in the process of launching its eight sector-agnostic fund early next year, which aims to raise$800 million (around Rs 5,700 crore).
In April, ChrysCapital led a $350-million (Rs 2,334 crore) investment in Mankind Pharma. Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and CPPIB of Canada also participated in the transaction.
In the same month, it led a Rs 350-crore ($55million) Series C funding round in Bengaluru-based school finance company Thirumeni Finance Pvt. Ltd, which operates under the Varthana brand.
It has also clocked a slew of exits from its portfolio, receiving superlative returns in the process. It completely exited its investment in Ahmedabad-headquartered drugmaker Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd in June, walking way with high returns.
Last year, the firm generated multifold returns through its exit from Eris Lifesciences Ltd’s initial public offering.
ChrysCapital has the distinction of raising the biggest-ever India-focused sector-agnostic fund. In 2007, which was the peak of the previous bull-run in the market, it had received commitments worth $1.25 billion for its fifth fund.
