TPG-Axon, Goldman Vets Found Asian Multi-Strategy Fund

A co-founder of TPG-Axon Capital Management and a colleague are putting up $75 million of their own money to set up a new hedge fund. Hari Kumar and Julian Snaith have founded Singapore-based LionRock Capital. The new multi-strategy fund will focus on Asia-Pacific stocks, Bloomberg News reports, and will begin trading on June 1. Kumar and three other Goldman Sachs veterans established TPG-Axon in 2005. The hedge fund now manages $14 billion in assets. Kumar, who left the firm last year, had been based in Hong Kong. Snaith also worked at Goldman’s principal strategies group and was a principal at TPG-Axon. According to Bloomberg, LionRock may eventually raise money from outside investors

Vivek Paul starts new PE fund

Vivek Paul, who quit as partner from global private equity giant Texas Pacific Group (TPG) at the end of 2008, has started a private equity fund that is understood to be targeting a corpus of $300 million to $400 million.

The fund, Akansa Capital, is understood to have signed some seed capital and is hoping for its first closure in the fag end of 2009. Paul is starting this fund at a time when limited partners are shying away from private equity funds.

According to industry sources, Paul’s new fund will be “sector agnostic” and a majority of the fund will be funnelled into companies in India. “We feel this fund will also look at investing in some companies which have presence in Asia,” according to an investment bank source.
Vivek Paul had joined the Texas Pacific Group after he quit Wipro Technologies as vice-chairman in 2005 after trying to put Wipro on a accelerated path to reach a top line of $5 billion. Paul was famous for his “String of Pearls” acquisition strategy for Wipro Technologies. Paul, as vice-chairman of Wipro Technologies, was instrumental in transforming Wipro from a $150 million software developer into a $1.4 billion force in offshore outsourcing. Prior to Wipro, he was the CEO of GE’s medical equipment joint venture in India. Paul currently serves on the board of Electronic Arts, which is among the world’s leading games publisher, and on the advisory council of the Federal Reserve of San Francisco.

This development comes close on speculation that Paul is being actively considered as one of the candidates to take over as the CEO of Satyam Computers. Paul has gone on record saying he is not interested in the opportunity and the post of the CEO is for the next generation.

Carlyle, TPG eye stake in NIIT

New Delhi-based IT company NIIT Technologies is learned to be in preliminary discussions with private equity players Carlyle and TPG to sell a majority stake. Industry sources said a strategic investor is also believed to be interested in the transaction.

Promoters currently hold 40% stake in NIIT Technologies and sources said they may sell anywhere between 25% and 40% in the company. This would trigger an open offer, where investors can buy an additional 20% in the company.

(Source: Economic Times)