Even as Mutual Fund (MF) investments are a great avenue for retail participation in equity and fixed income markets, High Net-worth Individual (HNI) investors are willing to take additional risks and look for specialised strategies to generate superior returns versus diversified mutual funds in their portfolio.
“Managers on the Portfolio Management Services (PMS) platform often create concentrated portfolios and sometimes customised portfolios (in case of NDPMS) of listed securities for investors. While managers on the Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) platform invest in non-traditional strategies like long/short, private equity, venture debt, structured credit etc,” said Nitin Rao CEO InCred Wealth.

Total PMS industry AuM has grown approximately 18 per cent CAGR over the last 10 years from Rs 3.63 lakh crore to Rs 19.22 lakh crore (Data from December 2010 to October 2020). AIFs have also grown from a mere Rs 360 crore of Commitments in Dec 2012 to Rs 4.51 lakh crore as on March 2021 (source SEBI website).

“Both PMS and AIFs have a few similarities such as they both give more concentrated exposure to approximately 25-30 stocks, offer a differentiated strategy for investors, require higher minimum investments, and are both regulated by SEBI,” said Rao.

Differences between PMS and AIF
There are many differences between PMS and AIFs in terms of the role they play in a client’s portfolio, often with no overlap.

What are Alternative Investment Funds? Should HNIs invest in AIF?
According to Rao, the key differences investors need to be aware of are:

Minimum investment amount: The minimum investment required in PMS is Rs 50 lakh while for AIFs it is a minimum of Rs 1 crore.

Pooling of funds: By nature, AIFs are a pooled investment fund while a PMS is a tailor-made portfolio of securities and involves no pooling of investor funds. PMS investors directly own the portfolio stocks in their demat account.

Lock-in period: With regards to the lock-in period in PMS, the investor can withdraw at their own discretion as specified in the agreement. On the other hand, AIFs are often close-ended units with a prescribed lock-in period, where the investors have to wait for the strategy to play out.

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Vijay Gomatam

Consultant – Investment Banking

Vijay Gomatam has over 20 years of banking experience across M&A, corporate finance, capital markets, and corporate banking, with a strong focus on cross-border deal origination and execution across India, Southeast Asia, Japan, and Australia. He has deep sector expertise in industrials, IT services, media, and telecom, with extensive experience in India - Southeast Asia and India–Japan transactions. Vijay previously served as Director at MUFG Bank, Singapore, where he led the India - Japan M&A corridor, and earlier worked with Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch, Houlihan Lokey, and Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors.

His transaction experience includes Motherson Group’s acquisition of TSE-listed Yachiyo Industries, Takahata India’s stake sale to SPRL, Toppan Form’s acquisition of PT RDS in Indonesia, Mitsui’s investment in FKS Food & Agri, CVC’s investment in PT LinkNet, and capital market transactions for Southeast Asian media and telecom clients including SingTel, Axiata, and Bakrie Group.

He holds an MBA from IIM Calcutta and a B.E. (Hons.) from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Akbar Khan

Senior Advisor – Investment Banking

Akbar Khan has over twenty years of experience across M&A advisory, Private Equity, and Corporate M&A, along with a decade as an entrepreneur and operator. He has held senior roles at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in India and London, where he led Telecom & Technology Investment Banking, Private Equity coverage, and M&A, and at General Electric, where he served as Head of Corporate Development and M&A for India and the MENA region. He has advised global corporates and financial sponsors including Reuters Plc, Telecom Italia, Hellenic Telecom, MTN, Tata Group, Apax Partners, Warburg Pincus, and TA Associates, and has led several notable transactions. These include advising E2E Networks on

its USD 50M capital raise, QuEST Global on its USD 75M Series B private placement to Warburg Pincus, Rain Technologies on its USD 65M Series A financing from QED Investors and Invus, Augnito.ai on its Pre-Series A raise from Apollo Hospitals Group, Tata Consultancy Services on the acquisition of Citigroup’s captive back-office unit, Forthnet in Greece on the acquisition of Netmed, and Telecom Italia on the sale of Cosmote via a leveraged buyout by Apax Partners and TPG.

In addition, Akbar co-founded and served as CEO of Rain Technologies India an earned wage access fintech platform.

He holds an MBA from London Business School and is a UK-qualified Chartered Accountant.

Shreyan ML

Managing Director – Healthcare & Pharma

Shreyan ML leads the healthcare and pharma investment banking practice and brings over 15 years of experience across investment banking, corporate M&A, and management consulting within the pharmaceutical sector. Prior to joining MAPE, he worked with Spark Capital, Strides Group, Wanbury Limited, and Tata Strategic Management Group.

His deal experience includes advising Curatio Healthcare on the sale of its business to Torrent Pharmaceuticals; Sale of TTK’s human pharma business to Bharat Serums; Glenmark Pharmaceuticals on the sale of the Razel brand to KKR-backed JB Chemicals & Pharma and the sale of nine dermatology brands to Eris Oaknet.

As Corporate M&A Head at Strides Group, he was involved in thesale of Agila to Mylan and led the animal health strategy at Sequent Scientific, executing over 12 transactions including fundraises and cross-border acquisitions.

He holds an MBA from IIM Indore and is a computer engineer from NIT Karnataka.

Arjun Mukherjee

Managing Director – Investment Banking

Arjun Mukherjee brings over 20 years of investment banking experience, with a strong focus on mergers & acquisitions and capital raising across Industrials, Education, Telecom, Cement, and Healthcare sectors. Prior to joining InCred Capital, he was part of the senior leadership team at MAPE Advisory Group for over a decade and has previously worked with Lazard, Ambit Capital, and Macquarie Capital.

His deal experience includes advising Veranda Learning on multiple acquisitions and its IPO, Emami on its bid for Paras Pharma, HeidelbergCement on the acquisitions of Mysore Cement and Indo Rama Cement, Italcementi on the acquisition of Sri Vishnu Cement along with an open offer, Bharti Airtel on the acquisitions of Hexacom India and the Spice Calcutta circle, as well as the sale of NLD rights to VSNL, Advent on its bid for Lafarge India.

He has also advised Jagdale Industries on the sale of its electrolyte drinks brand to Johnson & Johnson, promoters of Orissa Sponge on stake sales to Bhushan Steel and Monnet Ispat and on takeover defence, Fortis Healthcare on takeover defence and the sale of a minority stake to Khazanah, ICI India on the sale of its Nitrocellulose business to Actis and its rubber chemicals business, Jai Balaji Industries on the sale of its DI pipe unit and on QIP fund raising, Orbit Corporation and Ansal APIL on QIP-led equity fund raises, Walton Street Capital on raising a USD 500 million India-focused real estate fund, and on acquisition debt funding for the purchase of the RL Fine Chem API business.

Ashish Ambwani

Managing Director – Investment Banking

Ashish Ambwani has two decades of investment banking experience with a focus on cross-border M&A and Private Equity, and deep sector expertise across Consumption &Retail, Industrials and Digital businesses. He previously served as Director at Lazard for over 12 years and began his career at KPMG.

He has worked on numerous transactions including Osam Dairy’s sale to Dodla Dairy, Livpure’s capital raise from M&G Investments, QIMA’s acquisition of EFRAC Limited, Raymond Consumer Care’s FMCG sale to Godrej Consumer, IPO of Ethos Limited, Manohar Packaging’s sale to Parksons Packaging, MM Polytech’s sale to Huhtamaki, YY Inc.’s acquisition of Bigo, Kama Ayurveda’s fund raise and sale to Puig, Magnet360’s sale to Mindtree, Danone’s acquisition of Wockhardt nutrition assets, UCB’s sale of Indian brands to Dr Reddy’s, Sabero Organics’ sale to Coromandel, International Paper on its acquisition of AP Paper, Avantor on its acquisition of RFCL.

He holds an MBA from IIM Lucknow and a has a degree in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from NIT Trichy.

Jacob Mathew

Consultant- Investment Banking

Jacob Mathew brings over 25 years of experience in investment banking, private equity, and fundraising. He co-founded MAPE Advisory, a boutique investment bank focused on mid-market companies. Prior to MAPE, he was a Vice President (M&A) at Merrill Lynch India and played a key role in setting up the corporate finance practice at PwC India.

He has worked and led numerous transactions including the acquisition of Coats Viyella’s garment business by the AV Birla Group, the sale of Burnol and Coldarin brands, Dr Reddy’s buyout of American Remedies, and the sale of Diamond Dychem to Ciba AG. At MAPE, he led transactions across technology, telecommunications, consumer, healthcare, and retail sectors. His key clients include Coffee Day Enterprises, Strides, Igarashi Motors, J&J India, and Jyothi Labs.

He holds a PGDM from IIM Calcutta and is a Civil Engineer.

M Ramprasad

Consultant – Investment Banking

M Ramprasad has over 25 years of experience across investment banking, private equity, and fundraising. He co-founded MAPE Advisory, a boutique Indian investment bank focused on mid-market companies, which later merged with the Investment banking team at InCred in 2020. Prior to MAPE, he was a Senior Vice President at Merrill Lynch India, leading South India operations.

He has led marquee transactions for leading business groups including Tata Group, DuPont, ICICI Bank, Dr Reddy’s, and Sify, and at MAPE advised on landmark deals across manufacturing, infrastructure, and financial services. His key clients include Murugappa Group, ELGi Equipments, Curatio, Jyothi Labs, Karvy Financial Group, Star Health, and CRH Group.

He holds a PGDM from BIM Trichy and a degree in Chemistry.

Sanjay Singh

Head of Investment Banking – InCred Capital

Sanjay Singh is the Head of Investment Banking at InCred Capital, where he leads coverage across both advisory and equity capital markets. He brings over 20 years of experience across investment banking, strategy, and operations, with deep expertise in the pharmaceuticals and healthcare sectors.

Prior to joining InCred, he held leadership roles at BDA Partners as Head of India and Co-Head of Healthcare Asia, and at KPMG as Partner and Head of Life Sciences in India. He has also worked with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals.

His transaction experience includes advising Chemfield Cellulose on its divestment to Oji Holdings, Archimica S.p.A. on its acquisition by PI Industries, Synokem Pharmaceuticals on growth investment from TA Associates, Isagro SpA on the divestment of Isagro Asia Agrochemicals to PI Industries, SMT on its equity raise from Morgan Stanley Private Equity, Astec LifeSciences on the sale of equity to Godrej Agrovet and Nihon Nohyaku on its acquisition of Hyderabad Chemical Limited amongst others.

Sanjay holds an MBA from IIM Bangalore and a B Tech from IIT BHU.