News & Analysis

General Atlantic augments Indian team

General Atlantic has brought in UBS veteran Raul Rai to serve as a principal in its Mumbai office.

By
Ken MacFadyen
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General Atlantic has bolstered its Indian team, hiring Raul Rai as a principal in the firm’s Mumbai office.

[General Atlantic] has pursued a multifaceted approach in India, focusing on investing in companies serving the Global 2000 and in firms benefiting from the explosive growth in India’s domestic economy.

Steven Denning, chairman, General Atlantic

Rai comes to General Atlantic from UBS Investment Bank, where he had previously served as a managing director and global co-head of its Software Technology Investment Banking group. Prior to that, Rai had served at Goldman Sachs for four years ending in 2000, where he was a vice president in the firm’s Communications, Media and Technology group.

The move, according to General Atlantic chairman Steven Denning, signifies General Atlantic’s continued push into India. The firm, he said, “has pursued a multifaceted approach in India, focusing on investing in companies serving the Global 2000 and in firms benefiting from the explosive growth in India’s domestic economy”.

General Atlantic, with headquarters in Greenwich, Connecticut, has invested nearly $500 million (€427 million) in Indian businesses to date. The firm’s most celebrated transaction in the region was its acquisition of a 60 percent stake in General Electric’s business process outsourcing unit GE Capital International Services (GECIS). General Atlantic teamed up with Oak Hill Capital Partners for the investment, which gave the GECIS unit a roughly $500 million enterprise value.

In addition to Greenwich and Mumbai, General Atlantic currently maintains offices in Palo Alto, Washington DC, London, Dusseldorf, Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sao Paulo.

The news of Rai’s hiring comes alongside reports that the firm has signed a definitive agreement to buy a 10 percent stake in New York Mercantile Exchange parent company Nymex Holdings for $135 million. The purchase of the Nymex has been a long time coming. Nymex had to fend off numerous suitors, before agreeing to a deal with General Atlantic in September.