Sanjay Bansal, co-founder and managing Director of Ambit Capital, a mid-market investment advisory firm, is moving out of the firm to set up his own investment banking outfit. The new entity will essentially focus on providing M&A and restructuring services.
“It’s a good time to set up entrepreneurial ventures,” Bansal told VCCircle, adding that the idea is to build a full-service investment banking advisory partnership firm. Bansal, who spent 15 years at Ambit, is now looking at potential partners for the venture and has already begun talking to a few of them.
Bansal, now serving his last week at Ambit, had led Ambit’s ‘alternate capital’ division. He played a lead role in deals like the strategic alliance between UB and Scottish & Newcastle, the sale of the Lifespring retail chain to Morepen, the capital market offer for Eicher Limited and the restructuring and merger of Electrolux businesses in India.
According to him, the way deal-making business operates, will undergo a transformation and there will be a thrust upon relationships, reliability and high levels of service.
Prior to joining Ambit, Bansal had held senior positions in the corporate finance division at consulting firms KPMG and Arthur Andersen. Bansal is also an active angel investor and a member of the Indian Angel Network.
Going solo in the investment banking industry seems to have turned fashionable. Recently, Prahlad Shantigram, global M&A head, Standard Chartered Bank , Falguni Nayar, MD, Investment banking, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Manisha Girotra, India Head, UBS, quit to pursue their entrepreneurial ventures.