Harsha Raghavan-led PE firm Convergent names new operating partner
Indian private equity firm Convergent Finance, led by former top Fairfax India executive Harsha Raghavan, has named Manish Gupta as an Operating Partner to boost its team as it expands its portfolio basket.
Gupta is the former CEO and Managing Director of Sequent Scientific, India’s largest animal health company. He was previously also the CEO of the pharma business of Strides Pharma Science and part of the senior management team at Wockhardt, where he headed several businesses over the years.
He recently took the role of MD at Jagsonpal Pharmaceuticals, a company in which funds advised by Convergent completed an investment of Rs 269.2 crore in June after announcing it earlier this year.
Gupta has been credited with corporate turnarounds and organizational transformations. At Convergent, he will help identify and during due diligence of investment opportunities.
Raghavan, Managing Partner at Convergent, said: “We have known him personally for almost 10 years, including during our period as shareholders of Sequent Scientific, and have seen him grow the business and create value for all stakeholders. To start with, we see tremendous opportunities to consolidate and create a platform play in the domestic formulations industry and look forward to exploring many more opportunities in partnership with Manish.”
Gupta is the third operating partner of the firm, after Ashok Ramaswamy and Ashwin Ramanathan. Besides Raghavan, the firm has two other partners—Sarvjit Bedi and Amruta Adukia.
Convergent, which Raghavan established soon after leaving Fairfax in early 2018, counts eight companies in its portfolio after sealing its maiden control deal last month and fully exiting Sequent Scientific late last year.
Raghavan had led Canadian investment giant Fairfax’s India PE business until early 2018 as managing director and CEO at Fairbridge Capital Pvt. Ltd, which is an adviser to Fairfax India Holdings Corp.
Apart from Jagsonpal, Convergent’s current portfolio includes Welspun, Hindustan Foods, Jyoti International Foods, Camlin Fine Sciences, ADF Foods, Borosil Renewables and Onward Technologies, which it backed in May last year.
