Under his leadership, the Centrum Group has diversified its operations from a fee based business to a fee cum lending model with the introduction of Housing Finance, SME & Micro Finance businesses.

He is currently the Chairman of FICCI’s Maharashtra Council and a Governing Board Member of XLRI.

He is an alumnus from XLRI, Jamshedpur besides holding a Post Graduate Degree in Project Management specialising in Infrastructure sector alongwith a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Gujarat University. He has over sixteen years of extensive experience in raising Private Equity, Project Finance and advising Government & established private sector clients on M&A, Stressed asset resolution and Bidding initiatives.

Prior to Centrum, he worked with SBI Capital Markets and with IL&FS Group in financial advisory and fund raising domain on marquee Infrastructure Projects.

Prior to this, Mr. Dey was with ICICI Venture, the private equity arm of ICICI Bank.  Before moving to ICICI Venture, Mr. Dey served as General Manager of the Project Finance business at ICICI Bank and was actively associated with evolution of infrastructure financing in India spanning all its sub-sectors over more than a decade. He led financing of a significant number of landmark infrastructure transactions with successful outcome. He also has experience in consulting with focus on operational turnaround and business strategy. 

He graduated from IIT Kharagpur (B.Tech) and IIM Calcutta (MBA).

Eshwar has recently taken over as the CEO of the Kotak Special Situations Fund where he oversees investments across all special situation opportunities. The fund strategy is to invest in opportunities across all asset classes and participate in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) initiated resolutions.

Prior to Kotak Special Situations Fund, Eshwar was the CEO of Phoenix Asset Reconstruction Company (a Kotak sponsored ARC) which had an AUM of USD 1 billion. During his 5 year tenure at Phoenix, he made investments across all major sectors and successfully resolved investments. 

Eshwar was the founding member of the distressed assets business at Kotak and has helped the group in successfully investing over INR 2,500 crores (USD 417 million) of its proprietary capital in distressed assets. He has built time tested expertise in identifying distressed opportunities, structuring and executing complex financial transactions as well as securing profitable exits.

Prior to Kotak, Eshwar has worked at Ceat Financial Services (RPG Group) and Sundaram Finance Ltd.

Eshwar holds a Bachelor's degree in Commerce from the University of Pune and is a Management graduate from the Institute of Management Development and Research, Pune. 

Previously, Aditya was an Investment Director at Delhi-based Samaira Investment Advisors Pvt Ltd, investment advisor to Mylen India Growth Fund. From 2006 until 2015, Aditya was a  Portfolio Manager for Credit Strategy at Allen Global Partners, a New-York based event-driven hedge fund with assets under management of approx. US$ 1 billion and part of top-ranked U.S. Investment Bank Allen & Company LLC. Over 10 years at Allen Global Partners, Aditya was responsible for investments in global equities and distressed credit securities. Prior to joining Allen Global Partners in 2006, Aditya was a Technology Analyst at Global Investment Bank Merrill Lynch, US.

Aditya holds a Bachelors of Science (BSc) in Computer Science from the College of Engineering at Cornell University, NY, United States (2004) and a Chartered Financial Analyst CFA® (2010). Aditya completed the Executive Education Program - Negotiation and Competitive Decision-Making - from Harvard Business School, MA, United States (2015) and holds the Professional Certificate in Financial Risk Management from New York University, NY, United States (2005). Aditya is a member of Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) and YnG (Young Presidents Organization Next Generation).

Kalpesh has been investing in India for over 20 years.  Previously, he was a part of ICICI Bank’s senior management team, as the Global Head of Special Situations & Structured Finance, where he was responsible for running India-focused investment teams based in Mumbai, Singapore and London.

Prior to this, Kalpesh established a corporate and investment banking business in Europe focusing on leveraged and structured finance transactions with teams based in the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium. Over the course of his career, Kalpesh has deep experience in investing in the area of buy-outs, distress and credit investments.

Nirav’s areas of expertise include Insolvency Professional services, working capital management, pre-insolvency monitoring services, operational turnaround services and debt raising.

He is a Chartered Accountant and a member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and qualified Resolution Professional. He also has a substantial overseas work experience including a stint with Deloitte UK member firm for two years.

Sumit was part of the committee formed to develop regulation for Insolvency Process by Ministry of Corporate Affairs. He often shares his experience and insights on the topic of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, at various industry forums.

He has a broad investment banking experience across sectors and of having led several large and successful M&A transactions as also Capital raises. Prior to joining Deloitte, he worked with PwC, Morgan Stanley and HSBC.

Sumit has a Master’s degree in International Business from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Delhi.

Before joining Centrum, Sunil headed the energy practice at ICRA Management Consulting Services Limited and advised marquee companies in the private sector, PE funds, governments and regulators on transactions, restructuring, strategy and risk.  

Sunil led multiple financial restructuring assignments totalling INR 360 billion. Sunil has also advised the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and IFC on policy and risk related assignments.  He played an important role in the restructuring of five power utilities in Andhra Pradesh as a member of the Reforms Group. Sunil is an alumnus of XLRI Jamshedpur and NIT Warangal.

Previously, Mr. Jain was a Senior Vice-President at Clearwater Capital Partners, responsible for managing investments across a wide spectrum of industries with a special focus on asset resolution and real estate investments. He started his career as an Investment Analyst at the International Financial Corporation as part of the Global Financial Markets division where he was responsible for new deals and portfolio management in the financial services sector.

Mr. Jain holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Select relevant experience:

•  Data preservation, separation and restoration/ recovery in Mergers, acquisition and electronic discovery engagements
•  Technology driven investigations, including in case of a large stock exchange, eKYC operations for a bank and several cybercrime incidents
•  Reviews and investigations of several data theft cases, including in case of several senior management personnel leaving our client to join a   competing organization
•  Appearing in legal proceedings as an expert witness on handling and management of electronic data
•  Investigations of misreporting of performance metrics relating to finance, operations, marketing spends etc. by various business in manufacturing, consumer, automotive, finance and IT/ITES sectors.

He became MD and CEO of Essar Shipping, Ports & Logistics Limited in 2010.  He Joined Essar Group in 1997 as Chief Operating Officer in Essar Telecom and was the Executive Director of Essar Shipping Limited (ESL) from 1998-2002. He has been instrumental in setting up several startup companies as CEO like The MobileStore Limited, Telecom Towers and Infrastructure Limited and Aegis Communications.  He has been key member of several industry committees like Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Federation of Indian Commerce Industries (FICCI), The Associated Chamber of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and SUPERBRANDS for several years. 

He is recipient of Maritime Personality of the Year’ 17 at Gujarat Star Awards and Port Personality of the Year’ 17 at Maritime & Logistics Awards.  He has also been conferred with Maritime Standard Excellence Award’ 16 in Dubai for his contributions to maritime Sector.  In the past he has also won the CEO of the Year Award in 2009 at Asia Retail Congress and was among the finalists for Asia Business Leadership Awards, 2015 by CNBC.  

He joined the JSW Group in Nov 2017, prior to which he was Managing Director & Head of Debt Capital Markets for Standard Chartered Bank in India, with whom he was for 12 years. Prior to his association with Standard Chartered, he has worked in ICICI Securities and in SICOM and has an overall experience of 22 years in areas of debt capital markets, financing solutions and Treasury management.

Before joining the Firm, she has worked with various leading Indian corporate law firms in Mumbai such as AZB & Partners, Amarchand Managaldas & Suresh A. Shroff, JSA, and most recently, Samvad Partners. Apurva has over a decade of experience in executing complex acquisition transactions including PIPE deals and transactions that were governed by multi-regulatory regimes.

EXPERIENCE

An illustrative list of matters handled by Apurva includes:

Insolvency & Restructuring

• Advising and assisting a major consortium comprising of the largest steel manufacturers globally in connection with their proposed bid for Essar Steel India Limited, a company undergoing corporate insolvency resolution process under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016.
• Advising and assisting one of the largest Japanese conglomerates in connection with certain purchase of assets of Amtek Auto Limited, a company that underwent corporate insolvency resolution process under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016.
• Advising and assisting TA Private Capital (a Hong Kong based debt fund) with respect to funding of the acquisition of an Indian food processing company undergoing corporate insolvency resolution process under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016.
• Advising and assisting ACRE India on several transactions involving the purchase of stressed assets (under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016 as well as prior to the commencement of insolvency proceedings).
• Advising and assisting several private equity investors proposing to participate as a resolution applicant in a corporate insolvency resolution process being conducted under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 across various sectors including power, hospitality and pharmaceuticals.

Mergers & Acquisitions

• Advised Baxter Healthcare Corporation, a leading US-based pharmaceutical company in its 100% acquisition of Claris Injectables Limited, an Indian pharmaceutical company manufacturing sterile injectables.
• Advised Mylan Group in connect with an asset sale transaction involving purchase of reproductive health and fertility treatment of another global pharmaceutical company.
• Assisted Omnicom Group on its sale of global businesses of Sellbytel Group to Webhelp.
• Advised and assisted Henkel AG & Co. KGaA in relation to the acquisition of the Darex Packaging Technologies business, a business segment of GCP Applied Technologies.
• Advised and assisted CMS Group in connection with their stake sale in CMS Infosystems Limited to Baring Private Equity Asia.

He has a vast experience of Indian foreign investment regulations & practices, and is sought out for advice on structuring investments into India.

His work has covered multiple sectors including Logistics, Infrastructure, Media & Technology, Renewable Energy, Real Estate, Stressed Assets, Financial Services and Asset Management.

Bikash, as part of the Insolvency and Restructuring Practice, has acted on mandates on behalf of resolution professional, committee of creditors and prospective and successful resolution applicants in the restructuring and resolution of companies undergoing corporate insolvency resolution process.

He also assists Indian and foreign clients in legal risk management, and continuous legal review & support of their operations in India.