Partners Group, the Switzerland-based private market investment manager with $33 billion under management, has roped in Cyrus Driver to strengthen direct investment activities in India. Driver, who will join as a managing director based out of Singapore, earlier headed Helix Investments after which he joined Arka Capital.
Driver has over a decade of experience in the Indian private equity market. He lead India investments for PE firm Helix (India-focused private equity fund sponsored by the Culbro and Bloomingdale families) before which he was with J.P. Morgan Partners Advisors in Singapore and Mumbai.
He has worked on both growth capital and buyout deals at Helix like MT Educare (India’s largest school tutoring chain which was listed recently), Learning Mate (e-learning company) and Hi-Rel Electronics Pvt. Ltd ( power electronics).
Most recently, Driver was with Arka Capital, a private equity firm founded by former Warburg Pincus managing director Rajesh Khanna which shut operations in a tough fundraising market (more on that here).
Driver also founded a health food startup called Calorie Care in 2004, which is now one of the leaders in the niche segment of health food services. He is a graduate of IIT Bombay and IIM Ahmedabad.
Partners Group has been an active investor in India having deployed close to $600 million in the country. "Partners Group’s investment team continues to actively pursue and develop strong direct deal flow from India across a number of sectors, including for example healthcare and education opportunities," according to a company statement.
“His experience and extensive industry network will allow us to strengthen our investment activities in the Indian market which we believe offers attractive opportunities. As a firm, we intend to further grow our investment practice in the Asia-Pacific region and are convinced we will be able to take advantage of the current industry trends for the benefit of our clients,†said Andreas Baumann, partner and co-head of Partners Group's Singapore office.
Partners Group has over $33 billion under management in assets like private equity, private real estate, private infrastructure and private debt. It is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange with a market capitalisation of nearly $5 billion.
