Updated: Tata Capital has announced that it has appointed Shailendra Bhandari as the head of its private equity business.
Tata Capital has appointed Shailendra Bhandari, the former managing director and CEO of Centurion Bank of Punjab (CBoP), as the head of its private equity business, The Economic Times has reported, quoting unnamed sources. VC Circle has not independently verified this information. Earlier, it was speculated that Bhandari might be headed to JPMorgan or KKR’s proposed India office. The report said that Bhandari will report to Praveen P Kadle, Managing Director, Tata Capital.
Bhandari had earlier worked with HDFC Bank, and thereafter became the CEO of ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund. He later became the CEO of Centurion Bank, and spearheaded its acquisitions like Bank of Punjab and then Lord Krishna Bank before Centurion Bank of Punjab itself was bought out by HDFC Bank. Life had come a full circle for Bhandari, who is now quitting banking to join private equity.
Tata Capital is a non-banking finance entity formed by the Tata Group to hold all its financial services, private equity and investment banking businesses. The firm also has a tie up with Mizuho Securities for private equity, investment banking and other services.
Kadle had said in an interview last month that Tata Capital would launch a few private equity funds of $200-300 million each focusing on different sectors. It would focus on sectors like technology, communications, healthcare and midcap space, and a launch was expected in September this year, Kadle had said. Tata’s PE approach would be mainly to leverage the group companies’ relationships and contacts. So it would tap into the partners and suppliers of the group companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Teleservices, Tata Communications and Tata Sky.
More Industrial Houses Joining PE Bandwagon
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) is launching a sector agnostic $1-billion private equity fund, which will make investment in the range of $50-75 million. The group has launched its private equity advisory arm Reliance Equity Advisors Ltd (REAL). R-ADAG has been making PE investments through Reliance Capital.
Aditya Birla Group has also launched its private equity arm. It picked up a 25 per cent stake in Delhi-based retail chain V Mart Retail recently. It also picked up nearly 5 per cent stake in Core Projects & Technologies, an IT solutions provider, and also in Bombay Stock Exchange.
Ranbaxy’s financial services arm Religare Enterprises is also launching a private equity division. It has incorporated an entity for the same called Religare Venture Capital. TVS Shriram Growth Fund is another fund from the industrial houses TVS Group and the Shriram Transport Finance group, which recently announced the raising of Rs 500 crore for investing in growth stage businesses.