Temasek India MD quits, to join Tata Capital

Movement continues at the top level of private equity industry. Padmanabh Sinha, MD-Investment, Temasek Holdings Advisors India Pvt Ltd, the Indian arm of the Singapore government-owned investment major Temasek Holdings, has left the company.

Paddy Sinha, as he is known in the circle, is set to join Tata Capital as senior partner-Private Equity. Earlier this month, Rajeev Gupta, MD, Carlyle India, resigned from the company. When asked, Sinha confirmed the development. He put in his papers last week. “True. I have resigned from the company and will be joining Tata Capital in a month,” he said, refusing to disclose more details. According to sources, he has to complete a few formalities of the final conclusion in a few deals before leaving Temasek.

A spokesperson for Temasek said, “Padmanabh’s departure is a part of normal executive movements and we wish him success. We remain committed and focused on India. We will continue to add to our already strong team in Mumbai and Chennai when opportunities arise.” Mails to the Tata Capital spokesperson did not elicit a response.

Sinha joined Temasek in mid-2004 as part of the founding India team. Prior to Temasek, he was vice-president, investments, at ICICI Venture. An an entrepreneur in the past, he was president & CFO, and founding team member, of eGurucool.com, an e-learning company funded by Star Group and ChrysCapital. It was acquired by NIIT in 2003. He served as investment banker with Rabobank’s Indian arm. Padmanabh is an MBA from IIM Calcutta and a computer science engineering graduate from BITS, Pilani.

Apart from Sinha, Temasek India has Manish Kejriwal, senior managing director and country head, in the senior management level. In August 2010, Tata Capital announced plans to set up a $1 billion-PE fund through its Singapore-based subsidiary, which entered into a strategic partnership with Japan’s Mizuho Securities.

During 2009-end, Tata Capital had hired Akhil Awasthi, former partner with Baring Private Equity Partners (India), as managing partner of its growth fund.

Tata Capital has a team of executives for its PE business such as Mukund Rajan (managing partner-Tata Opportunities Fund), Visalakshi Chandramouli (partner-Healthcare Fund), Mohan Harshey (Partner-Innovation Fund), Pramod Ahuja (partner-Growth Fund), Bobby Pauly and Vineet Chadha (principal-private equity).

In September 2010, TA Associates, the US-based private equity major, appointed Standard Chartered Private Equity’s Dhiraj Poddar as a Director, to focus on investments in growth companies in India.

In February last year, Actis had hired Mahesh Chhabria, a partner from 3I, the UK-based PE major.