General Atlantic expands India team

GA's India team now includes Ranjit Pandit, Abhay Havaldar who move onto advisory positions

General Atlantic, a global growth equity firm, on Monday announced that it has strengthened and expanded its investment team in India with several new hires, underscoring the firm’s long-term commitment to pursuing growth equity investment opportunities in India and South East Asia.

Under the leadership of Sandeep Naik, who joined the firm as a managing director and head of the firm’s Mumbai, India office in late 2012, GA’s India team now includes eight full-time investment professionals and two Advisory Directors.

“As an important high-growth economy, India will continue to be a core element of General Atlantic’s strategy of investing in growth companies around the world,” said William Ford, CEO of General Atlantic, who is visiting India this week.

“GA is active in several Indian sectors opening up to new investment, including financial services, healthcare, technology, business services, and consumer retail. We also see attractive investment opportunities arising from the rapid growth of the emerging middle class.”

Ford continued, “Sandeep has gotten off to a terrific start in leading GA’s team. GA is better positioned than ever to provide entrepreneurs and management teams of the region’s high-growth businesses with the long-term expertise and capital they need to scale up, expand and take full advantage of their market opportunities.”

In addition to Naik, new members of GA’s team of investment professionals in India include Shantanu Rastoogi, as principal; and Vijay Venkat and Varun Talukdar, both as associates. Existing team members Ranjit Pandit and Abhay Havaldar have both been named advisory directors, and will continue to be involved with GA’s portfolio companies in an advisory capacity.

Naik commented, “I am very pleased to be a part of General Atlantic in pursuing opportunities with Indian growth companies—particularly those with a desire to expand globally. Our evergreen fund structure affords us the flexibility to hold investments much longer than traditional private equity firms allowing us to help build value and manage through market volatility.”

Sandeep Naik was previously a partner and co-head of the India office for Apax, leading investments in the healthcare, financial & business services, and retail & consumer sectors. He has both led and participated in a number of investments including Apollo Hospitals, Spectrum Labs, Esprit Pharma and Xanodyne. He also served as a director of publicly listed Apollo Hospitals.

General Atlantic manages approximately $17 billion and invests between $1.5 billion and $2 billion per year in growth companies globally. Since it opened an investment advisory office in Mumbai in 2002, General Atlantic has invested about $1.2 billion in Indian growth companies, including its most recent partnership with Fourcee, a logistics company, and IndusInd Bank.

In India itself it has returned over $1.4 billion making it one of the most successful investors in the region. Other current and prior portfolio companies include Genpact, Mu Sigma, National Stock Exchange (NSE), InfoTech, IBS Software Services, Jubilant, and Patni.