KKR India CEO Sanjay Nayar moves to chairman role

From the start of next year, Nayar will “advise and assist KKR’s India business by leveraging his connectivity and experience across the country,” the firm said in a statement. It also formally announced the appointment of Gaurav Trehan as head of India private equity.

Prior to joining KKR in 2009, Nayar was in corporate and investment banking, serving as CEO of Citigroup’s India and South Asia operations. Having developed KKR’s local business across several asset classes, including establishing non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) to address credit opportunities, his duties expanded in 2014 to include credit and capital markets across Asia.

Trehan was recruited by KKR in May, with sources saying at the time that he would lead the private equity operation. Trehan came from TPG Capital, where he was a partner and a board member of companies such as Five-Star Business Finance, Jana Small Finance Bank, Manipal Health, and Union Bank of Colombo. He joined TPG in 2004 from Morgan Stanley.

KKR has been without an India private equity head since 2014, when Heramb Hajarnavis departed to form Sealink Partners. Nayar took direct responsibility for the asset class in the interim.

“Gaurav has established himself as one of India’s top private equity investors, and we are excited to add an executive of this caliber to our leadership team. With his strong investment acumen, relationship-oriented mindset, and his track record of creating value in companies, we are confident he will enable us to augment our ability to support the local economy and take homegrown businesses to the next phase of growth and development,” said Ming Lu, head of Asia Pacific at KKR.

KKR has been investing in India since 2006 and established its Mumbai office in 2009. As of September, it had deployed more than $5.8 billion in private equity investments in the country and $10 billion across strategies including credit, infrastructure, and real estate.

The firm’s India private equity portfolio features investment bank Avendus Capital, tower operator Bharti Infratel, life insurer Max Financial Services, education services provider EuroKids International, hospital chain Max Healthcare, and pharmaceutical ingredients supplier JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals. In 2020, it added minority positions in two Reliance Industries subsidiaries, Jio Platforms and Reliance Retail, committing about $2.25 billion.

KKR is in the process of raising its fourth pan-Asian buyout fund. As of September, it had secured $13.1 billion in commitments, surpassing the target of $12.5 billion.

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