New Silk Route
New Silk Route Partners LLC, abb as NSR, is a $1.4-billion private equity firm that invests in private companies in India, Asia, and the Middle East. History New Silk Route was initially named Taj Capital. Its founding team included, at various points (alphabetically): Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, 20th finance minister of Pakistan Anil Kumar, former senior partner at McKinsey & Company Mark Schwartz, former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asia and CEO of Soros Fund Management Parag Saxena, former managing partner of Invesco Capital and Vedanta Capital Raj Rajaratnam, former managing partner of the Galleon Group Victor Menezes, former vice chairman of Citigroup Messrs. Kumar, Rajaratnam, and Schwartz resigned as founding partners before the firm began operation. The firm enjoyed close relationships with both Goldman Sachs and the Galleon Group: "A month before joining Goldman’s board, Rajat Gupta began marketing a $2 billion hybrid private-equity and hedge fund vehicle called Taj Capital Partners with one of Goldman’s biggest hedge fund clients, Raj Rajaratnam." According to Fortune, "New Silk Route's original fundraising was for $2 billion (under the name Taj Capital) -- and [...] the first $600 million or so went into Galleon hedge funds." Leadership Team Anand Dorairaj, Partner Jacob Kurian, Partner Jens Yahya Zimmerman, Partner Parag Saxena, CEO & Founding General Partner Sanjeev Chachondia, Operating Partner Vivek Sett, Partner Senior Operating Partners The fund formed a strategic advisory board in January 2012 comprising: Dr. Herbert Henzler, former Senior Partner and Chairman of Europe at McKinsey & Company Nina Shapiro, VP Finance at International Finance Corporation Supratim Bose, President of Asia-Pacific at Boston Scientific and former Partner at New Silk Route Investments In 2007: Reliance Telecom Infrastructure Ascend Telecom In 2008: Augere Beaconhouse School System Destimoney Orissa Television Communications In 2010 NSR: Café Coffee Day Nectar Lifesciences Amonix In 2013: Moshes Fine Foods It had large stakes in 9X Media and Ascend Telecom Infrastructure as of 2016. Its other investments include VRL Logistics, Rolex Rings, KS Oils, Varsity Education Management and Vasudev Adiga’s Fast Food. References Further reading FT Tilt Cafe Coffee Day Saxena interview External links NSR official website Private equity firms