Providence Equity Partners, a US private equity firm that specialises in media, entertainment, communications and information companies, has selected Hong Kong and India as locations for its Asian offices.
The firm has appointed Andrew Rickards, an investment banker with Rothschild, as a managing director to lead its Asia investment activities. Rickards, chief executive officer of Rothschild in Asia, was formerly co-head of Goldman Sachs’s communications, media and entertainment in the Asia Pacific region.
Rickards will start with Providence in March, according to a spokesman.
At Goldman Sachs, Rickards worked with the region’s largest telecommunications firms: Chunghwa Telecom in Taiwan, SK Telecom in Korea, and Telstra in Australia.
Before Goldman, he was head of telecom, media and technology investment banking in Asia for Schroders and BZW.
At Providence, Rickards will be joined by Thura Ko, currently an assistant director at Rothschild in Asia, and previously, a member of Goldmand Sachs’ media team in Asia.
Biswajit Subramanian, a London-based managing director at Providence Equity, will head the new office in New Delhi. Subramanian joined the firm in 2000 from Morgan Stanley in London, where he was part of the European telecommunications investment banking team. Subramanian was also part of the team responsible for Providence Equity’s investment in India-based Idea Cellular, a wireless operator last October.
Providence invested in a 14.6 percent stake for $400 million via a pre-IPO private share placement, according to Venture Intelligence, India-based venture and private equity research service.
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