Agenda
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08:55
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09:00Investment outlook: Private markets in 2021 and beyond
Although 2020 has been a challenging year due to the pandemic, Indian private equity has seen some positive and even record-breaking deals in certain sectors where growth has shone through. While this might help to jump start investments in 2021, certain sectors have been hit but the fundamentals of the India story mean the sectors that have seen a boost and are already staples of the domestic private markets players, like healthcare, ecommerce, tech and education, are strongly positioned for savvy investors to cease the moment. Our panel of private market experts will discuss how they view the current state of play in India, the areas they will be targeting for growth and the challenges the industry is facing in 2021 and beyond.
- What is the private markets outlook in each asset class?
- Will the high levels of dry-powder supercharge deal-making in 2021?
- What sectors are most attractive and how are they being accessed?
- How will GPs source exits in 2021?
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09:45
Q&A
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10:00
Networking break
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10:15The Distressed landscape: Picking the winners
In the last few years, distressed specialists and private equity players alike turned their eye to the India market as an appealing private credit opportunity. The pandemic has now firmly put the distressed investment opportunity in the spotlight and investors are increasingly clinching deals at fair valuations amid the economic turmoil caused by the pandemic. With many companies going bankrupt, the size of the distressed market is ever increasing, prompting investors to fill the gap and enter the asset class creating an opportunity for GPs and LPs that are willing and able to pivot their approach to distressed investing. Our expert panelists discuss the Indian credit environment and what the future holds for this promising sector.
- How big is the distressed investing opportunity in India?
- What strategies are credit investors facing in managing these types of assets?
- What is the LP appetite for credit exposure?
- Which type of distressed investment will be the most attractive in 2021?
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11:00
Q&A
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11:15
Networking break
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11:30Technology, innovation and investment: The digital battleground of the future
As the pandemic hit in 2020, most of the investment activity around the world slowed down. India was no exception, however large-scale tech investment combined with a vibrant ecosystem and a robust internet industry contributed to a significant rebound later in the year. With an outward-looking IT industry capitalising on rapidly changing business models and accelerated digitalization, India is uniquely positioned to ride the wave and propel world class companies to the global stage. Our experts discuss the current investment landscape and why India is the place to be for the technology giants and those trying to emulate them.
- How will the post-pandemic tech landscape look in India?
- What sectors offer the best opportunities?
- What role can private equity play in tech deals besides being minority investors?
- Can India take the lead in the global digital efforts and is it becoming the next battleground for tech giants?
- How difficult is to find balance between regulation and innovation? Would increased scrutiny on privacy and other regulation hinder tech investment?
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12:30
Q&A
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12:45
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Tim Burroughs is managing editor of Asian Venture Capital Journal, having joined the publication in May 2011. He is responsible for all editorial content put out under the AVCJ brand, including Asian Venture Capital Journal, AVCJtv, AVCJ Awards and AVCJ.com. Tim previously spent five years at China Economic Review, serving as editor-in-chief and then editorial director. Located in Greater China since 2003, during which time he has lived in Beijing, Qingdao and Hong Kong, Tim has been a China-based contributor for publications including The Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, BBC and China Daily. Prior to moving to China, he trained and worked as a journalist in the UK. He was honored at the Society of Publishers in Asia awards in 2007, 2008 and 2010, and at the State Street Institutional Press Awards - Asia in 2012.
Harsh Pais co-heads Trilegal's corporate practice and focuses on Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity. Harsh advises extensively on cross border acquisitions (involving public and private targets) and joint ventures.
In addition, Harsh provides strategic counsel to clients on matters involving change of control transactions, corporate governance, securities laws, troubled joint ventures and crisis management. Harsh is also experienced in providing transactional and regulatory advice to clients in highly regulated industries, including telecom and media and technology, retail, financial services and infrastructure.
Harsh was recognised among the 'Top 20 Emerging Legal Leaders in India' by RSG in its inaugural list of Emerging Legal Leaders in 2019. He is rated as a 'leading lawyer' 'highly regarded' for Corporate M&A by IFLR 1000 Guide. He is recognised by Chambers and Partners for both Corporate M&A and Private Equity - "he has excellent commercial judgement and a deep understanding of the issues that are of greatest concern to investors". RSG's India Report cites feedback that "Harsh provides clients with 'top quality advice, he is extremely 'responsive' and 'commercial' with 'knowledge of the client's sensitivities'.
Harsh holds a significant role at FICCI, the apex chamber of commerce for industry in India, as member of its National Committee on Corporate Laws.
He has past experience at a major international law firm in New York and is additionally qualified in the UK and New York. Harsh is an alumnus of Columbia Law School and the National Law School of India.
Mr. Baijal is the Head of India Private Equity and Senior Partner at Apollo Global Management. He joined the firm in its New York office in 2008 and has worked actively on private equity, mezzanine and credit investments across the US and Asian markets. In 2012, he helped Apollo establish a joint venture with ICICI Bank and raise one of the largest India dedicated funds, AION Capital Partners. Prior to Apollo, Mr. Baijal was with the private equity team at Bain Capital in Boston, where he worked extensively in the consumer and retail sector. Mr. Baijal started his career with McKinsey & Company across the New Delhi and Hong Kong offices and was one of the founding members of the firm’s corporate finance practice in India. He is on the Board of several companies, including IGT solutions, Clix Capital and PlanetCast Media Services Limited. Mr. Baijal graduated summa cum laude from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi with a BA Honors in economics. He also completed his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, where he was an Industry Scholar. He is an Aspen Institute Fellow and the recipient of the 2018 IIMA Young Alumni Achiever Award.
Neeraj Bharadwaj is the Managing Director of Carlyle India Advisors Private Limited, focused on large growth capital and buyout opportunities across sectors in India.
Prior to joining Carlyle in 2012, Mr. Bharadwaj was a Managing Director with Accel Partners’ growth investing operation in India. Preceding that he was with Apax Partners for nearly 10 years – as a Partner in the U.S. and subsequently as Managing Director/Country Head for Apax in India, where he led the India operations. Investments he has been involved with include Apollo Hospitals (BSE: AHEL), Jamdat (NASDAQ: JMDT), Widerthan (NASDAQ: WTHN), NXP and others. Previously, Mr. Bharadwaj was an engagement manager at McKinsey & Co.
Mr. Bharadwaj was selected as Board Member of the Indian School of Business (ISB), a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Board Member of Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), Member of the Harvard Business School South Asia Advisory Board and Member of the Wharton Executive Education Board.
Mr. Bharadwaj serves on the boards of Global Health Private Limited, VXI Global Solutions and Delhivery Logistics.
Mr. Bharadwaj holds an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School, and graduated summa cum laude with a BS in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Sanjay Kukreja joined ChrysCapital in 2000 and has been a Partner at the firm since 2012. He is currently the Chief Investment Officer at ChrysCapital, overseeing all of the firm’s investment activities. Prior to his CIO role, Mr. Kukreja led the Financial Services and Business Services sectors, which together accounted for over $1.5 billion of invested capital and almost $3 billion of realizations for the ChrysCapital funds.
Over the years, Mr. Kukreja has been instrumental in leading several high-profile investments and has also worked extensively on managing exits for ChrysCapital, where ChrysCapital is an industry leader.
Mr. Kukreja currently serves on the Boards of Hero Fincorp, GeBBS Healthcare Solutions, Infogain, Intas Pharmaceuticals, and has previously also served on the boards of several other companies such as KPIT Technologies, LiquidHub, and Shriram Transport Finance Company.
Mr. Kukreja holds an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Shriram College of Commerce, Delhi University. He has also attended the Executive Leadership Course for top management at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.
Vishal Mahadevia is Managing Director, Head of India, and member of the Executive Management Group at Warburg Pincus. Prior to joining Warburg Pincus in 2006, he was a Principal at Greenbriar Equity Group, a fund focused on private equity investments in the Transportation sector. Prior to that, Mr. Mahadevia worked at Three Cities Research, a New York-based private equity fund and as a consultant with McKinsey & Company. He received a B.S. in Economics with a concentration in Finance and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
Yogesh Singh is the Co-head of the Corporate Practice Group at Trilegal and has experience of advising clients on transactions (mergers and acquisitions, private equity and joint ventures) and strategic advisory matters.
Yogesh is particularly focussed and heavily involved in deals involving restructuring and purchase transactions and is currently engaged in some of the most-high value and complex transactions in this regard. He regularly advises foreign and Indian clients on the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. He has helped major multinationals in forming strategies regarding investment disputes and settlements.
Yogesh has structured some of the biggest deals of recent times, many of which have been recognised as ‘Deal of the Year’ at various legal media platforms, including The Asian Lawyer, IBLJ, ALB, and Chambers. Yogesh is ranked as an elite &A lawyer by several of leading legal publications and also a recipient of the prestigious ‘Partner of the Year, 2017’ award by IDEX Legal, an in-house legal community network.
Yogesh is recommended by Chambers and Partners Asia-Pacific, RSG Consulting and Asia-Pacific Legal 500. Yogesh is described as “diligent, experienced and pragmatic”, by Asia-Pacific Legal 500; as “an astute and impressive corporate lawyer who is always available, articulates the risks and opportunities very well and is a skilled negotiator." by Chambers and Partners 2017 and as “precise, prompt and reliable” and easily accessible” in the RSG India Report 2015. Yogesh is also recommended as an "international advisor" by Finance Monthly.
Yogesh is a dual qualified lawyer. He is a member of the Supreme Court of India and also qualified as a Solicitor in England and Wales.
Anurag Das is CEO of IARC, a Blackstone-led ARC that manages its Indian distressed investments. Over two decades in the field of distressed and credit investing, he has led investments in some of the most complex global insolvencies. Earlier, he was managing partner of Rain Tree Capital, Head of Asia-Pacific at King Street, and worked in the US with King Street and Bain Capital Credit. Involved from the outset with India’s insolvency reforms, he writes an occasional expert column, has been invited before the Joint Parliamentary Committee, IBBI and a judicial colloquium, and serves on the Board of Governors of INSOL India. Mr. Das received an MBA from Harvard, a BA in Philosophy, Politics & Economics as a Rhodes Scholar from Oxford, and a B.Sc. in Physics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.
Puneet has over 17 years of experience in the Indian financial industry, comprising distressed assets and equity research. He has done more than 25 debt acquisition/fresh funding deals across different structures with broad spectrum of financial institutions. Puneet was featured by Private Debt Investor amongst 8 global professionals as "Titan of turnarounds" in November 2019. Prior to joining Edelweiss, he was an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs, heading research for India consumer and real estate sectors. He holds an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur.
Neeraj Seth, Managing Director, is the Head of Asian Credit and has been in his current role since 2009. He is the portfolio manager for the Asian Tiger Bond Fund and Asia Pacific private credit fund. He leads the strategy for Asian Fundamental Credit and is responsible for providing oversight of the investment process, performance, and the team's infrastructure as well as determining the strategic direction and growth initiatives of the platform. He has been responsible for building the Asian fundamental credit business since 2009.
Prior to joining BlackRock in 2009, Mr. Seth was a Senior Vice President focusing on the Asia Pacific market for R3 Capital Partners. He previously held a similar role with the Global Principal Strategies team at Lehman Brothers. Previously, he was an Associate Partner with McKinsey & Company where he was in the leadership group for the Technology & Telecom practice in Southeast Asia.
Mr. Seth earned a BE degree in mechanical engineering from Delhi University and an MBA degree in finance from the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University.
Sandeep Chandak is a Managing Director on the Asia Corporate and Traded Credit team. Based in Singapore, he joined the firm in 2016.
Prior to joining Värde, Sandeep worked at Deutsche Bank Hong Kong as a Trader in Distressed and Illiquids, covering Asia Pacific stressed loans and bonds. Prior to Deutsche Bank, he was at Ernst & Young India in Transaction Advisory Services, providing corporate valuation, acquisition and fundraising advisory to clients.
Sandeep received a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) from the University of Delhi, India. He is also a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Rahul Matthan (Rahul.Matthan@trilegal.com) is a technology lawyer and heads the TMT practice of Trilegal. In addition to advising clients on issues as diverse as cryptocurrency, satellite regulations, fintech and social media, he has played an active role in tech policy in the country including in relation to the country's privacy law, its spatial data infrastructure and the Unique ID law. His book - ' Privacy 3.0: Unlocking Our Data-Driven Future' - describes the evolution of privacy in India and the world and the impact that technology has had on the evolution of this fundamental human right.
He is a published author and a regular speaker across the world on matter relating to emerging technologies and the law and he writes a weekly column on the interface of law and technology entitled Ex Machina in mint, a leading national business daily. He also hosts a podcast series with the same name which picks up on many of the themes discussed in his articles and dives into them in much more detail.
Rahul now serves on the Board of Trilegal after having served for many years on the Firm’s Management Committee.
A global strategic leader in public companies, currently President at Reliance Jio and part of the central management of India’s largest consumer conglomerate in telecom and retail, also leading its foray into payments, digital advertising and e-commerce.
Previously MD India of Aimia Inc., the world’s largest data-driven marketing company. He has built and sold businesses in marketing, Nectar and analytics, Fractal, and has also been a successful entrepreneur in luxury retail, investment banking, IT and security. He is one of India’s earliest venture capitalists, with an active family office portfolio, including 2 unicorns, InMobi and Myntra.
An Alumnus of University of Pittsburgh and Harvard Business School. Also Co-President, Harvard Club of Mumbai and a national award-winning photographer.
Abhi leads all M12 investments and market development activities in India. Prior to joining the team, he led Microsoft’s strategy and investments globally in emerging markets, managing early-stage product innovation, ecosystem partnerships, acquisition and growth initiatives, and product market fit to commercialize new IP. He started his career at Oracle, spending time in New York, San Francisco, and Hong Kong. He studied Electrical Engineering at Cornell University and has an MBA from J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
Sumer Juneja is Partner and Head of India at SoftBank Investment Advisers. Through the SoftBank Vision Fund, we are investing in businesses and technologies that we believe will enable the next stage of the information revolution. We offer the operational expertise, global network and patient, long-term capital required to help innovators build transformative companies. The Vision Fund is one the of the most active funds in the Indian technology sector and their portfolio in India amongst others include Ola, Lenksart, MindTickle, Unacademy, Delhivery, Policy Bazaar, First Cry, Paytm and OYO.
Prior to SoftBank, Sumer was a Partner at Norwest Venture Partners focusing on growth equity and venture investments in Indian companies across a wide range of sectors, including telecom, technology, financial services, infrastructure and manufacturing. He has led and been involved in the following investments: Swiggy, Quikr, Indusind Bank, Shriram City Union Finance, Cholamandalam Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, National Stock Exchange and Sadbhav Infrastructure
Before joining Norwest India in 2009, Sumer was a founding member of the Goldman Sachs' Asian Special Situations Group in India, a balance sheet investing group with over $4 billion under management. In this role, he had board level involvement with such companies as Bharti Infratel, IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd., IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd. (ITNL), Cremica and OnMobile.
Prior to this role, Sumer was an analyst for the Industrial and Natural Resources Team in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs in London.
Sumer obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in politics and economics from the London School of Economics.
Ashutosh heads investments for Prosus Ventures in India. Prosus is a global consumer internet and entertainment group and one of the largest technology investors in the world. Operating in more than 120 countries and markets with long-term growth potential, Prosus builds leading companies that empower people and enrich communities. It runs some of the world’s leading platforms in internet, video entertainment, and media. Key past and current investments in India include Makemytrip, Swiggy, Byju, Flipkart, Meesho & Eruditus.
Ruchira Shukla is the South Asia Regional Lead for Disruptive Technology Investments at the International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group. She oversees IFC’s investments in early stage technology businesses as well as VC Funds, and represents IFC on the boards of several startups. She has over 25 years of experience across venture capital and private equity investing, strategy consulting, and investment banking across Asia, US and Europe. Her sector focus spans consumer internet, B2B eCommerce, healthcare technology, edutech, elogistics and emerging technologies.
Ruchira studied at IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad in India. She also graduated as Palmer Scholar from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.