Homegrown mid-market private equity fund Lighthouse Funds has appointed FMCG veteran PK Hariharan as an Operating Partner. The fund that has invested in companies such as Nykaa, FabIndia, Kama Ayurveda and Bikaji Foods among others is a consumer focused fund.
Hariharan, who recently retired from global cosmetics maker Coty spent around 35 years in Procter & Gamble previously and is considered a veteran in consumer sector for the South Asia region. While at P&G, Hari worked in different assignments in various geographies across India, in sales, market strategy and planning roles. He also spent more than 6 years in Singapore where he oversaw the pan-South Asia business for the firm.
With Coty, a $9 billion beauty conglomerate, he helped the company set up operations in India, heading the India and South Asia business as General Manager for both professional and consumer beauty segments.
“I was looking at a more meaningful assignment post retirement and did not want to take up consultancy kind of assignments. As an operating partner, I can work with various promoters and help them take their companies from good to great,” Hariharan said.
An increasing number of PE funds are beefing up their operational teams to manage portfolio companies.
“It took us more than a year or so to get Hariharan on board. He brings along a rich operational expertise that will help us source deals and manage our portfolio companies better. People like Hari act as a sounding board to the management of these companies that are at the cusp of next phase of growth,” Sean Sovak, co-founder of Lighthouse fund.
The fund recently announced the final close of its third fund of $230 million, taking the total assets under management to around $500 million. The fund has already made four investments from the new fund and is expecting to deploy it fully over the next 12-18 months. “We will start raising our next fund in another 18-24 months. We are very positive about a lot of investment flowing into India now that a stable government is in place,” Sovak said.
(As published in https://economictimes.indiatimes.com on , May 30 2019. )