HDFC Chairman’s Son Ventures Into Private Equity; Launches $200 Mn Paragon Partners

A $200 Mn private equity fund, Paragon Partners, has been launched by Siddharth Parekh, son of Deepak Parekh, the chairman of mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corp. Ltd (HDFC), and his friend Sumeet Nindrajog.

The firm will invest in areas of consumer, automobile, infrastructure and financial services with a ticket size of $10-20 Mn. The fund intends to buy 15-30% stakes in companies of each segment.

Paragon Partners, registered with the capital markets regulator, is expecting to close its first round of $60 Mn by December and hopes to raise the rest of the amount in 9-12 months in order to start making investments.

“Our fund, a mix of onshore and offshore, will see commitments from HNIs (high networth individuals) and domestic institutions. After first close, we will start raising funds from foreign investors,” said Nindrajog.

Siddharth Parekh was an investment principal for over seven years at the Mumbai office of Actis, a UK-based emerging markets PE fund. Prior to that, he worked with the International Finance Corp., based in Washington DC, as an investment analyst. Besides, he has also worked as a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group in New York.

As for Nindrajog, he has worked at Ares Management at its PE Group in Los Angeles and UBS in the investment banking group and is the co-founder and executive director of Mumbai-based Hover Automotive India.

The firm will be mentored by veterans such as Deepak Parekh, Harsh Mariwala, chairman of Marico Ltd, and Sunil Mehta, former country head of American International Group Inc. in India on its advisory board.

Siddharth Parekh had earlier already invested in startups as an angel investor in his personal capacity. Few of these startups include, CreditVidya, IndiaLends, MobieFit Technologies, HandyTrain and Seynse Technologies.

Deepak Parekh’s elder son Aditya Parekh had also ventured into private equity in 2009 with Faering Capital, and in its first attempt raised INR 800 Cr. in 2009. He is in the process of raising a second fund worth INR1800 Cr.

Children of many prominent businessmen have also ventured into private equity fund. Sasha Mirchandani, son of Gulu Mirchandani, chairman and MD of Mirc Electronics Ltd, the owner of Onida brand, has been in private equity space since 2011 with his firm KAE Capital. Sasha is also a co-founder of Mumbai Angels, a grouping of angel investors.

Amit and Arihant Patni, sons of Gajendra Patni, co-founder of Patni Computer Systems Ltd, had launched Nirvana Venture Advisors in 2011. They are currently raising their second venture capital fund worth $100 Mn.

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