SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Management Pvt Ltd (SMIMPL), a joint venture company between the State Bank of India (SBI) and Australia's Macquarie Capital, has made two executive level appointments. It has appointed Varun Bajpai as chief executive officer and Praveen Gupta as deputy chief executive officer of the company.
SMIMPL is in the process of establishing the SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Trust, a domestic fund to invest into infrastructure projects and companies in India. Macquarie-SBI Infrastructure Fund (MSIF) has till now received commitments of $887 million from international investors, alongside a direct co investment commitment of $150 million by SBI.
“Varun and Praveen strengthen our existing management team ensuring a well-placed position to take advantage of the considerable investment opportunities vailable and make a significant contribution to the infrastructure of India,” said Nick van Gelder, head of Macquarie Capital Funds in Asia.
Bajpai is a senior managing director of Macquarie Capital who was leading the establishment of Macquarie Capital’s business in India. He also worked for Deutsche Bank and Kotak Mahindra. Gupta is a general manager at SBI and prior to this was the regional head and chief executive officer of SBI’s Bahrain office.
Macquaire Capital plans to continue fund raising, and together with Indian domestic institutions, targets a total capital between $2 billion and $3 billion in MSIF.
