Mahesh Parasuraman quits as Carlyle India MD, likely to launch new fund

To join former India Value Fund partner Sunil Theckath Vasudevan to launch $200-mn growth capital fund

In a move that is seen as a sign of a growing inclination towards growth capital investments, Mahesh Parasuraman, managing director of Carlyle Group, is learnt to be leaving the global private equity major to start a new fund.

Parasuraman, who has led some of Carlyle's successful growth capital investments in the region, will launch a growth capital fund of $150-200 million with Sunil Theckath Vasudevan, former partner at India Value Fund Advisors. According to sources, the fund will target the mid-market segment.

"Parasuraman is in the process of completing his exit formalities at Carlyle before starting this fund, which will be known as Amicus Capital. The prime reason behind this move is the huge opportunity in the mid-market space, where players such as Carlyle don't play a major role owing to their sheer size. This is the space where Parasuraman has proved his mettle leading successful investments such as Repco Home Finance, Tirumala Milk Products and Elitecore Technologies," said sources in the know.

They also said Amicus Capital, which would start operating sometime during the quarter, would be a sector-agnostic growth capital fund largely focused on sectors such as health care, technology and business services, media, financial services and consumer. It would look at investments in the range of $8-$20 million with a "significant minority control".

"The whole idea is to play on the Indian consumption story and leverage the India skill story," it added.

Parasuraman declined to comment. Carlyle could not be reached for official response and an email to the company remained unanswered.

Parasuraman, a qualified chartered accountant and cost accountant, joined Carlyle in September 2004 after a stint with Ernst & Young and Arthur Andersen. He was instrumental behind some of the successful investments such as Repco Home Finance, which Carlyle exited with a 6x return, Elitecore with 8x return and Tirumala with 4.5x return on investment.

He also led Carlyle's investments in Edelweiss Financial Services, Newgen Knowledge Works, South Indian Bank, Value & Budget Housing Corporation, and Allsec Technologies among others.