Former Stanchart honcho to float $500 mn PE fund

Karam Butalia, a former Standard Chartered foreperson, is floating a $500 million private equity fund -- KV Asia Capital, that would focus on India and South East Asia, starting from next year.

"We have a target fund size of $500 million and would mainly focus on South Asia (India and South East Asia)," KV Asia Capital founder Karam Butalia told PTI.

Saying that the fund will be managed by a team of seasoned managers with a proven track record, Butalia said, "Vibhav Panandiker is the CEO of KV Asia and a founding partner."

Vibhav Panandiker was the managing director of JP Morgan's private equity investments in Southeast Asia and India. Before joining JP Morgan, Panandiker was a director in Standard Chartered Private Equity.

The fund will start investing from 2011, Butalia added.

Panandiker is a former JP Morgan associate, and used to oversee its private equity investments in Southeast Asia and India. Before joining JP Morgan Panandiker was with Standard Chartered Private Equity as a director.

During his six years at Standard Chartered, Butalia worked predominantly on Asian-focused leveraged buyout deals. Before joining Standard Chartered Butalia was with Citibank from 1978 to 2002.

Going by media reports, in 2008, when the economies around the world were ravaged by slowdown, Butalia was one of the best-paid executives, as he took home a whopping 16 million pounds, four times than what the Standard Chartered's CEO Peter Sands received in a year.