Apax Elevated Indians as Partners of its Global System

Private equity giant Apax Partners in December 2010 moved up in rank Sandeep Naik and Shashank Singh who were the co-heads of the firm’s Indian operations. Naik and Singh were elevated to the position of partners of Apax Partners’ global system. This move of elevating the two Indians moves India into the same league as China as the only two countries in the Asia-Pacific region to have partners in the firm’s top management. Naik will be a partner for the healthcare vertical while Singh will lead the global tech & telecom team of the firm. Both Naik and Singh had joined the firm as Principal when Apax had started office in India back in 2006. When Apax India’s MD Neeraj Bharadwaj resigned in 2009, they began to spearhead local operations in India.

Apax together with Nasdaq listed iGate, is in the fray for $1-billion deal to acquire Patni Computer Systems. It is usual for Apax to track late stage investments or acquisition opportunities in businesses with enterprise valuation between $1 billion and $5 billion. Its only investment in India till date is a minority investment of $104 million for 11.5% stake in Apollo Hospitals.