Everstone Capital has hired UK-based Kiddy and Partners to assist with the restructuring of its private equity business and the organization’s review system, said two people close to the development, requesting anonymity. The firm has been on a hiring spree over the past six months and will be taking a more sector-based approach, instead of focussing on geographies.
Everstone sent out a letter to its investors about a month-and-half ago, informing them about the internal changes, including a slew of exits since June as part of its restructuring exercise. A copy of the letter was reviewed by Mint.
“Over the course of this assignment (study by Kiddy and Partners) we reviewed, refocused and reshaped the entire organization in addition to supporting our talent in order to deliver the most stable and highest possible return to our investors. As a result of this, we have made some changes in the senior management and will be making further changes to the middle and associate and analyst levels,” the letter said.
Everstone managing directors who exited the firm include Atul Phull, Prateek Dhawan and Deep Mishra. Executive directors who decided to leave were Bhairav Shah and Ratna Mehta.
Everstone has hired Sanjay Gujral as its chief operating officer. In his previous assignment, Gujral was serving as the regional managing director at L. Catterton Asia. Taylor Lawrence, who was serving as head of investor relations at Wellspring Capital Management, was hired as managing director of business development in New York. Most recently, the firm hired Arjun Oberoi, former global head for healthcare at Actis, as managing director for its healthcare-, pharmaceutical- and wellness-related investments.
The firm is in the process of hiring a managing director for financial services.
Since the beginning of the business restructuring exercise, 14 people have left and 10 have joined Everstone’s private equity business.
Besides, Navneet Maheshwari, who was earlier with NASDAQ and Partners Group, was brought on the board as an executive director to assist in the fundraising process across West Asia and Asia. Six associates and analysts have joined the organization, while three are yet to join. For its real estate business, Everstone has hired 80 people in the past 180 days.
“The study showed that Everstone had become top heavy and there were too few junior people to do the legwork. The review system and the carry distribution procedure has also been revamped,” said the first person.
Carry is the share of profits of an investment that an investment manager receives as compensation.
“…We (have) grown significantly over the last decade, not only in terms of the scale of our businesses but also in complexity. We have added excellent people…and grown our team as needed but we felt that it was time to ensure we had the right organizational structure and talent for the future…,” said Sameer Sain, co-founder and chief executive at Everstone Group.
Source: Mint