NewQuest taps Bain exec for India push

Direct secondaries firm NewQuest Capital Partners has brought in Bain & Company’s Sachin Khandelwal as director and head of portfolio of its newly opened Mumbai office, according to a statement.

As a senior principal for Bain in Mumbai, Khandelwal worked on marketing and sales strategy and operational transformation, with a particular focus on the consumer segment. Prior to that, he held marketing and sales positions at Hindustan Unilever.

NewQuest has also relocated a Hong Kong-based associate, Mamtesh Sugla, to Mumbai, and hired another two investment professionals to join the new office, bringing the total headcount to nine, a spokeswoman for the firm said.

This brings the firm’s offices to three, along with its headquarters in Hong Kong and an outpost in Beijing, which was opened in August last year.

Darren Massara, managing partner of NewQuest, said India has been a core market for the firm since its inception in 2011, and has so far invested approximately $200 million in India. He added that the firm is set to increase its investment pace in the country in the near term,

In August the firm gathered $540.5 million for NewQuest Asia Fund III, exceeding its $500 million target and initial $520 million hard-cap.

Among investments in the firm’s India portfolio include the India-focused assets of venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which includes stakes in travel website Cleartrip, electronic recycling management firm Attero Recycling and energy company Bharat Light and Power. The firm also invested $21 million in construction company Capacit’e Infraprojects and precision engineering company Maini Precision Products in October last year.