Pioneers in performing private credit in Asia

Ms. Kanchan Jain has 29 years of experience across corporate and structured finance, private credit, loan markets and debt capital markets across Europe and Asia. She has worked across origination, structuring, underwriting and risk. As Head of Ascertis Credit Group, Ms. Jain is responsible for the overall business across all its investment & non-investment functions. Over the last 11 years, Ms. Jain, along with leadership team, has led the creation and build-out of Ascertis Credit into one of the leading private credit management groups in Asia, focused on the fast growing mid-market corporate sector. Before moving to India in 2008, Ms. Jain worked for 10 years in London as Managing Director at HSBC, and before that as Director at Barclays Capital in the Structured Credit business. Prior to that, Ms. Jain worked in the Asian debt capital markets across debt syndication, loan trading & risk, based out of Hong Kong and in project finance based out of India. Ms. Jain has lived and worked in India, Asia & the UK and holds a Bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering from VNIT and MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.

Mr. Sandeep Adukia has 29 years of experience across wholesale lending, retail lending and institutional brokerage with specialized knowledge of Indian capital markets. As Senior Managing Director, Mr. Adukia leads business development efforts developing valuable sourcing channels for the business and managing investee company relationships. Mr. Adukia also oversees fund raise efforts in India. Prior to joining Ascertis Credit, Mr. Adukia was head of the Capital Markets business at Religare Finvest Limited, managing all aspects of wholesale and retail lending for capital markets. Before that, Mr. Adukia worked at Citigroup as Head of Capital Market Finance and with HDFC Bank in the Capital Markets business. Mr. Adukia started his career in Collections with India Securities Ltd in addition to his work in Capital Markets business. Mr. Adukia holds an MBA from Mumbai University.

Mr. Anupam Goenka has 20 years of experience across private credit, proprietary investments, structured finance, investment banking and consulting. As Head of Underwriting, Mr. Goenka is responsible for overseeing the underwriting and portfolio monitoring of all investments. Immediately prior to joining Ascertis Credit, Mr. Goenka was with Religare Finvest Limited where he oversaw the structuring and underwriting functions for lending to mid-market corporates across a range of sectors. Among his previous roles, he has worked with Deutsche Bank in proprietary real estate investments and within the global credit trading business, working on transactions for mid and large corporates. Mr. Goenka has also worked at JP Morgan in the Investment Banking team based out of Mumbai where he worked on several capital market transactions across sectors. Mr. Goenka is a Chartered Accountant and completed his MBA from Xavier Institute of Management, India.

Mr. Dar Chen is a Senior Advisor and IC Member at Ascertis Credit since 2016. Mr. Chen joined Baring Private Equity Asia in 2002, where he was involved in various investment opportunities and post-investment initiatives in China, Taiwan, and South Korea, as well as overseeing the firm's investment activities across the region, including in India, as a member of Ascertis's investment committee. Mr. Chen was previously an Assistant Director with Prudential Asset Management Asia and spent considerable time overseeing the firm's South Korea portfolio. Before that, Mr. Chen spent over 10 years with Bank of America's project finance, PRC corporate banking, credit risk management and financial institutions groups in San Francisco and Hong Kong, where he executed a wide range of advisory and debt transactions. Mr. Chen holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

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Mr. Amit Dharod has 24 years of experience in Indian financial markets across various functions in debt capital markets covering a broad range of financial institutions for debt syndications and structured debt transactions. Mr. Dharod leads the syndication and DCM effort for Ascertis Credit, cultivating and managing all financial institution relationships covering banks, NBFCs, insurance companies and mutual funds, across our investment and fund functions. Prior to this, Mr. Dharod was at The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) group in India where he distributed fixed income products as Head of Institutional Sales. Prior to RBS, he was with GE Capital Services India in the Capital Markets team. Mr. Dharod started his career with ICICI Bank Limited.  Mr. Dharod is a Chartered Accountant and a Commerce Graduate from Mumbai University. He also holds degree of Certified Treasury Manager from ICFAI.

Mr. Kaushal Ganeriwal has 20 years of experience across structured credit and structured finance. As Head of Origination, Mr. Ganeriwal oversees the sourcing function for Ascertis Credit. Prior to joining Ascertis, Mr. Ganeriwal worked with Altico Capital India as one of its founding members to build the firm's structured finance lending practice. Mr. Ganeriwal also worked at Clearwater Capital Partners in the Mumbai office where he was involved in building the special situations portfolio in India. Mr. Ganeriwal has previously worked with ICICI Bank where he was involved in building the structured finance business across the bank's onshore and offshore balance sheets, in addition to roles within the bank’s proprietary trading and distress assets businesses. Mr. Ganeriwal completed his MBA from IIM Kolkata and graduated from Kolkata University.

Mr. Saket Lakhotia has 20 years of experience in finance and operations across financial services and investment management. Mr. Lakhotia heads Finance, Operations and Compliance for Ascertis Credit. Prior to joining Ascertis Credit, Mr. Lakhotia worked with ICICI Venture as a part of the finance team responsible for accounting for real estate and private equity funds managed by ICICI Venture. He has also been involved in setting up and structuring exits in several domestic funds as well as offshore feeder funds based out of Mauritius. Mr. Lakhotia started his career at Bharat Aluminium (Vedanta group company) where he was responsible for accounting and MIS functions at the captive power plant. He has also worked at ICICI Bank in the Treasury Middle Office handling the domestic fixed income segment, Brevan Howard Advisors Private Limited and Philips India Limited. Mr. Lakhotia is a Chartered Accountant and a Commerce graduate from St. Xavier's College, Kolkata.

Mr. Ashutosh Sharma has more than 24 years of experience in Banking and Financial Services as corporate, in-house, and litigation counsel with in-depth exposure to working with Credit funds and NBFCs on the corporate, retail, capital market, and special situation businesses. As Chief Legal Counsel, India Credit, Mr. Sharma is responsible for overseeing all legal matters pertaining to investment diligence, monitoring, and fund operations. Prior to Ascertis Credit, Mr. Sharma was a Senior Director and Chief Legal Counsel for Elexa Resolution Advisors LLP, an advisory platform wholly owned by Bain Capital Credit. Before that, he was working with PNB Housing Finance Limited as Chief Legal Counsel and part of the leadership team. His earlier engagements include the role of Legal Head for Religare Finvest Limited and in-house legal counsel with GE Money. He started his career as litigation counsel and practised extensively in the Supreme Court, High Court, District Court and in tribunals including the consumer courts, Anti-Trust MRTP, and the Competition Commission of India.  Mr. Sharma holds a Bachelor of Law from Jamia Millia Islamia and Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Delhi.

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Ms. Snigdha Jain has 20 years of experience in capital raising, investor relations and business development across financial services and is responsible for offshore fund raise and investor relations at Ascertis Credit. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Jain was with Kotak Investment Advisors Limited as Executive Director - Capital Raising, responsible for capital raising and investor relationships for multiple products within the Kotak alternatives platform. She has also worked with Marsh India Insurance Brokers and IL&FS Trust Company Ltd providing customized risk solutions and product sales within the financial services sector. Ms. Jain holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management from the Fore School of Management and B.Sc. (Honors) from the University of Delhi.

Mr. Ashish Agarwal has 15 years of experience in structured and corporate credit. As Senior Vice President, Origination, Mr. Agarwal is a key member of the sourcing function at Ascertis Credit. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Agarwal was Vice President at Avendus Finance, and before that, Assistant Vice President with ICICI Securities, based in Mumbai. Prior to that, Mr. Agarwal was as an investment banker with SBI Capital Markets and IDFC. Mr. Agarwal holds an MBA from the Faculty of Management Studies, New Delhi and a B.Com (Hons) from SRCC, New Delhi.

Ms. Manali Garg has 17 years of experience in risk management and portfolio monitoring. Ms. Garg is responsible for the Transaction Management at Ascertis Credit and oversees all pre & post transaction monitoring processes. Prior to joining Ascertis, Ms. Garg worked with Religare Finvest Limited, a non-banking finance company, where she was a part of the Risk Management function of the Capital Market Lending Division, responsible for monitoring all large exposures pan India and for setting up risk management processes for different loan products.  Ms. Garg is a Company Secretary and holds Bachelor of Law and Bachelor of Commerce degrees from Meerut University, India.

Mr. Sameer Mehta has 15 years of experience in credit analysis and investment due diligence. As Senior Vice President, Mr. Mehta is a key member of the investment underwriting and diligence function at Ascertis Credit. Prior to his current role, Mr. Mehta worked as Associate Director with Incred Capital. Before that, he worked as a Senior Analyst in the corporate ratings team at ICRA Limited, a subsidiary of Moody’s Inc. Mr. Mehta holds a MBA from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai and a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the University of Mumbai.

Mr. Siddharth Sivaramakrishnan has 14 years of experience in credit analysis and investment due diligence. As Senior Vice President, Mr. Sivaramakrishnan is a key member of the investment underwriting and diligence function at Ascertis Credit. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Sivaramakrishnan was Senior Associate Vice President in the Fixed Income team at UTI Asset Management where he was involved in corporate debt investments and transaction structuring. Before that, he worked as an Analyst in the corporate ratings team at ICRA, subsidiary of Moody's. Mr. Sivaramakrishnan is a CFA® charter holder and holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from VJTI, Mumbai and an MBA (International Business) from Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi.