New Silk Route
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Private equity |
| Predecessor | Taj Capital |
| Founded | 2006[1] |
| Founder | Rajat Gupta Parag Saxena Victor Menezes |
| Headquarters | New York, United States Mumbai, India Bengaluru, India Dubai, United Arab Emirates[2] |
Key people | Parag Saxena (CEO) Victor Menezes |
| Products | Private equity, growth capital |
| AUM | $1.4 billion |
| Website | nsrpartners |
New Silk Route Partners LLC (NSR) is an Indian private equity firm that invests in private companies in India, Asia, and the Middle East.[3]
History[edit]
New Silk Route was initially named Taj Capital. Its founding team included, at various points (alphabetically):[4] [5]
- Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, 20th finance minister of Pakistan
- Anil Kumar, former senior partner at McKinsey & Company
- Mark Schwartz, former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asia and CEO of Soros Fund Management
- Parag Saxena, former managing partner of Invesco Capital and Vedanta Capital
- Raj Rajaratnam, former managing partner of the Galleon Group
- Victor Menezes, former vice chairman of Citigroup
Kumar, Rajaratnam, and Schwartz resigned as founding partners before the firm began operation.
The firm enjoyed close relationships with both Goldman Sachs and the Galleon Group: "A month before joining Goldman’s board, Rajat Gupta began marketing a $2 billion hybrid private-equity and hedge fund vehicle called Taj Capital Partners with one of Goldman’s biggest hedge fund clients, Raj Rajaratnam."[6] According to Fortune, "New Silk Route's original fundraising was for $2 billion (under the name Taj Capital) -- and [...] the first $600 million or so went into Galleon hedge funds."[7]
Management[edit]
- Anand Dorairaj, Partner
- Jacob Kurian, Partner
- Jens Yahya Zimmerman, Partner
- Parag Saxena, CEO & Founding General Partner
- Sanjeev Chachondia, Operating Partner
- Vivek Sett, Partner
Advisory board[edit]
The fund formed a strategic advisory board in January 2012 comprising:[8]
- Dr. Herbert Henzler, former Senior Partner and Chairman of Europe at McKinsey & Company
- Nina Shapiro, VP Finance at International Finance Corporation
- Supratim Bose, President of Asia-Pacific at Boston Scientific and former Partner at New Silk Route
Investments[edit]
In 2007, it invested in Reliance Telecom Infrastructure[9] and Ascend Telecom.[10] In 2008, it invested in Augere,[11] Beaconhouse School System,[12] Destimoney,[13] and Orissa Television Communications.[14] In 2010 NSR invested in Café Coffee Day,[15] Nectar Lifesciences,[16] and Amonix.[17]
In 2013 it invested in Moshes Fine Foods.[18] It had large stakes in 9X Media and Ascend Telecom Infrastructure as of 2016. Its other investments at the time included VRL Logistics, Rolex Rings, KS Oils, Varsity Education Management and Vasudev Adiga’s Fast Food.[18]
References[edit]
- ^ Leading Asia-focused growth capital firm | NSR. Nsrpartners.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-18.
- ^ Offices | NSR. Nsrpartners.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-18.
- ^ ‘The question is how much venture capital India can absorb' | Business Line. Thehindubusinessline.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-18.
- ^ Scannell, Kara. (2011-03-17) Insider trading trial star witness challenged. FT.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-18.
- ^ Galleon head, McKinsey ex-chief built ties in '06 - Economic Times. Articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com (2009-10-31). Retrieved on 2013-07-18.
- ^ Goldman Sachs board members do lots of business with the firm’s clients « Dealbreaker: Wall Street Insider – Financial News, Headlines, Commentary and Analysis – Hedge Funds, Private Equity, Banks. Dealbreaker.com (2010-04-16). Retrieved on 2013-07-18.
- ^ Primack, Dan. Alleged inside trader is more than a "consultant" and ex-Goldman director. Fortune. March 1, 2011.
- ^ New Silk Route Forms Strategic Advisory Board To Help Portfolio Cos. VCCircle (2012-01-09). Retrieved on 2013-07-18.
- ^ "New Silk Route to Buy 72.5% Stake in Telecom Tower Company Aster Infrastructure | VCCircle". Archived from the original on March 23, 2010. Retrieved January 31, 2012.
- ^ Telecom News Bulletin: New Silk Route's Ascend Telecom, India Telecom Infra Merge. Telecombulletin.blogspot.com (2011-03-02). Retrieved on 2013-07-18.
- ^ New broadband service Augere to focus on developing nations. Telecompaper (2009-07-20). Retrieved on 2013-07-18.
- ^ Beaconhouse School System | NSR. Nsrpartners.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-18.
- ^ Arijit Barman (December 2, 2014). "Private equity group Carlyle set to buy out Destimoney from New Silk Route". The Economic Times.
- ^ New Silk Route eyes exit in Ortel Communications IPO | Reuters. In.reuters.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-18.
- ^ NSR invests in Coffee Day Resorts | Business Line. Thehindubusinessline.com (2010-04-20). Retrieved on 2013-07-18.
- ^ "New Silk route invests in Nectar Lifescience", Mosaic Media Ventures Private Limited Copyright 2008 VCCircle.com; via Reuters. March 5, 2010 6:01pm IST. Retrieved 2011-03-10.
- ^ Woody, Todd. (2010-04-21) A Big Bet on Solar Technology - NYTimes.com. Green.blogs.nytimes.com. Retrieved on 2013-07-18.
- ^ a b Balakrishnan, Reghu (15 March 2016). "New chapter for Rajat Gupta, but fund he founded still struggles". Livemint. Retrieved 1 April 2022.