Paras Pharma founder Girish Patel, who exited his business in a blockbuster deal with Reckitt Benckiser, has jumped on to the private equity bandwagon in a trend of successful entrepreneurs setting aside their wealth to invest into small- and medium-size enterprises. And some of the cash-rich India Inc promoters are rolling up sleeves to be active investor managers in the new growth firms.
Patel, 51, has JV capital fund Access India Advantage as operating partner after he mopped up Rs 1,000 crore selling 30% stake in Paras last year. Patel is an anchor investor in the $150-million fund set up by private equity professionals Nilesh Mehta and Sangeeta Modi, both former partners at emerging markets firm Aureos Capital.
The generation next at Patni family, which offloaded their interest in Patni Computer Services, has backed $75-million Nirvana Capital led by Rajan Mehra, who steered Clearstone Venture Partners. Dabur family's Gaurav Burman is now involved with a new $150-million pledge fund, GTI, which reportedly has participation from Jonathan Nissim Schulhof, the son-in-law of the iconic private equity investor Henry Kravis.
Source: Times of India