New Delhi, May 12 -- A former executive from London-headquartered private equity firm Lightrock has joined Ambit Arcadia Alternatives, the private equity secondaries arm of Mumbai-based financial services group Ambit.
The development comes a few months after former Eight Roads Ventures executive Raj Dugar and former TR Capital director Rohitt Mutthoo announced the launch of Ambit Arcadia, an alternative investment fund (AIF) that could become one of the largest India-focussed vehicles for private equity secondaries deals.
Sai Taja Ramanujam, who worked as a senior associate at Lightrock, has joined Ambit Arcadia as a founding member alongside Dugar and Mutthoo.
"The timing feels right. Secondaries in India are gaining real momentum as a preferred liquidity path for early investors navigating extended IPO timelines and DPI pressure," Ramanujam said in a social media post.
Prior to Lightrock, Ramanujam worked as an investment banking associate at Avendus in the TMT division and as an investment associate at New York-based alternative investment firm Tiger Global Management. He also had brief stints as a recruitment coordinator at IIM Lucknow and as assistant manager of corporate finance at Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.
Ambit Arcadia aims to raise up to $300 million (around Rs 2,700 crore) for its maiden fund.
The latest development comes amid several investment firms tapping into India's growing secondaries market and launching dedicated vehicles in this segment.
In February, Mumbai-headquartered diversified financial services firm Systematix launched the India Equity Opportunities Fund to bet on pre-IPO and secondary market opportunities in India, with a target of Rs 1,000 crore.
PE firm Gaja Capital is also raising its maiden secondaries fund with a target corpus of Rs 1,250 crore ($139 million).
Singapore-based Kenro Capital is planning to raise $150 million (around Rs 1,374 crore) for its India-domiciled fund, VCCircle reported in March.
Last year, Neo Asset Management rolled out its debut secondaries fund, targeting Rs 2,000 crore, and completed a first close of around Rs 750 crore.
Global and Asian PE secondaries specialists active in India include TR Capital and TPG NewQuest.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.