Ex Stanchart honcho to float 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 next year.

“We have a target fund size of $500 million and would mainly focus on South Asia (India and South East Asia),” founder Karam Butalia said.

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

The fund will start investing from 2011, Butalia added.

During his six years at Standard Chartered, Butalia worked predominantly on Asian-focused leveraged buyout deals. Before that, he 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 of what Standard Chartered’s CEO Peter Sands received in a year.