Amit and Arihant Patni, sons of Gajendra Patni, the eldest of Patni brothers who founded Patni Computers, have forayed into advisory business with the acquisition of a significant minority equity stake in Mumbai-based boutique advisory firm Waterfield Advisors Pvt Ltd. Financial details of the transaction remained undisclosed.
The funding will be utilized to strengthen the advisory firm’s family office services portfolio as well as expand its offerings in the domestic market.
“Having experienced first-hand, the challenges faced by a single family office since setting up our own family office in 2002, we felt that there existed a strong latent need for family office services. Our investment in Waterfield Advisors aims to jointly address this need and build this area of expertise in India,” Amit Patni, who has joined as director at Waterfield Advisors, said in the statement.
Amit and Arihant Patni had forayed into financial services space in 2011 after Patni Computers was sold off to the US-based iGate Corp in a deal worth $1.2 billion. Each of the brothers - Gajendra, Narendra and Ashok Patni - held about 14 per cent equity stake in Patni Computers at the time of the final exit which gave them around $220 million each.
After exiting Patni Computers, Amit and Arihant Patni co-founded funds like Elysium Investment Advisors (hedge fund), Nirvana Venture Advisors (internet digital fund) and The Hive India (big data fund).
Founded in 2011 by Soumya Rajan, Waterfield Advisors offers advisory services to entrepreneurs, ultra-high net worth (UHNW) families, trusts and corporate clients under three verticals including Family Office Services, Corporate Advisory Services and Alternative Asset Management (Private Equity & Real Estate).
Soumya, who is managing director and CEO of Waterfield Advisors, spent over 16 years with ANZ Grindlays and Standard Chartered Bank before starting her own venture.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)