Indian GP Samara recruits partner from Levi Strauss

Purohit will join the firm in July; his initial remit will be to serve as CEO of Sapphire Foods, the entity that Samara set up last year to manage its acquisition of the Yum Restaurants business in India. He will also serve on the board of Paradise Food Court, which Samara has backed since 2014. Over the longer term, Purohit will lead the consumer and retail practice at Samara.

Purohit has helped build the India operations for a range of global companies. Prior to Levi Strauss, where he has served for six years, he spent 11 years as executive director for India marketing at chocolate maker Cadbury. Before that he worked at Mobil and Asian Paints.

"I am very excited to join Samara Capital, which has been one of the most active consumer and retail investors in India," Purohit said. "Samara Capital believes in unleashing the power of human capital and entrepreneurship to create superior stakeholder value, and this has been the principal factor in my decision to join their team."

Samara provides growth capital to Indian companies, focusing mainly on the technology and healthcare sectors. Earlier this year it paid INR1.51 billion ($22.7 million) for the Indian division of South African drug maker Adcock Ingram Holdings; it also owns a 45% stake in the Indian arm of US data storage firm Iron Mountain.

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• Topics
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• Samara Capital
• Appointments