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Anil Sasi

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New Delhi, June 28 It’s a new KPO format — one that entails outsourcing of investment decision inputs by global funds to Indian investment managers. The trickle has started, but a deluge is expected by industry watchers.

New York-based boutique financial and business advisory firm Virtus Global Partners (VGP), for instance, has tied up with ICRA Management Consulting Services (IMaCS) for investment advisory, specifically focussed on US investors seeking to tap India both as a market and a sourcing destination. IMaCS is a wholly owned management consulting subsidiary of ICRA.

“US-based companies and investors are increasingly seeking to tap India. Having a local presence and support through IMaCS in India greatly enhances our ability to serve such clients,” says VGP Managing Director, Mr Anil Kumar.

The deal comes close on the heels of London-based New Star Asset Management Group Plc, with assets under management of around £21.7 billion, delegating investment management for its maiden Indian Equity Fund to Tata Asset Management Ltd (TAML), the Mumbai-based asset management company of the Tata Group.

According to New Star, given the importance of local knowledge in the “complex and rapidly changing” Indian market, the investments will be made after seeking non-binding advice provided by TAML.

Justifying the move, Mr Mark Skinner, Managing Director of New Star Investment Funds, says: “At New Star, we believe that local knowledge of the Indian market will be key to generating long-term outperformance and we are delighted to be partnering such a prestigious organisation as the Tatas.”

Global alliances of independent advisors have also been working towards co-opting Indian firms on their member lists to tap their domain knowledge of the local market. SBI Capital Markets Ltd, investment bank and project advisory arm of the State Bank of India, is an alliance member of ‘M&A International Inc’, a global alliance of independent advisors specialising in mergers and acquisitions in middle markets.

Mumbai-based Singhi Advisors Ltd, an independent boutique firm, has also been co-opted as an exclusive member firm of ‘Mergers-Alliance’, an international network of independent investment banking boutiques and corporate finance advisory firms, present in more than 20 countries with 50 offices.

“The Indian market has certain peculiarities that domestic advisory firms deal best with; hence the increasing trend,” explains a PE analyst.

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