KKR & Co (KKR.N) is expanding its regional staff by relocating a managing director from India to Singapore to oversee the company's Southeast Asia private equity division.
Prashant Kumar, who has been with KKR in Mumbai since 2018, will relocate to Singapore and begin his new position in July.Kumar will collaborate alongside Ashish Shastry, a partner who co-heads the firm's Asia Pacific Private Equity unit and is responsible for Southeast Asia according to sources.
Kumar, a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology and The Wharton School, has invested in several Indian businesses, including JB Chemicals, a manufacturer of pharmaceuticals, and Vini Cosmetics, a supplier of deodorants.After KKR strengthened its Indian leadership in recent years, Kumar made his move. In 2020, it hired Gaurav Trehan to head its Indian operations from another buyout company, TPG Inc (TPG.O).
Based on a person with intimate knowledge of the situation, KKR also hired Akshay Tanna, a former coworker of Trehan's from TPG, to be a partner in its Indian private equity unit.Additionally, the move comes as KKR expands its presence in Southeast Asia and India. For its fourth private equity fund with an Asia-Pacific emphasis, it raised $15 billion in 2021, making it one of the biggest funds in the area for this asset class.
KKR built an office in Singapore in 2012 and has been making investments in Southeast Asia since 2005. Private equity, real estate, credit, and infrastructure are some of the things it has invested in the area.For $220 million in March, Frontier Tower Associations, a platform for telecom towers financed by KKR, acquired more than 100 telecom towers in the Philippines from internet company PLDT.