Vivek Paul, former vice-chairman of Wipro who quit buyout giant Texas Pacific Group late last year, has formed his own private equity firm Akansa Capital. The firm is raising a $300-400 million fund which will be sector agnostic and mainly invest in India, according to a report in Business Standard, which quoted unnamed sources. Paul's fund may also look at firms having a presence across Asia. The fund has raised some seed capital and plans to make first close by end of 2009, the report added.
Paul was rumored to be candidate for take over CEO's job at the fraud hit IT major Satyam Computer Services after its chairman Ramalinga Raju quit after admitting fraud. Paul's former employer TPG is now reportedly in the race to acquire Satyam.
Paul was chief executive of Wipro before joining TPG as a partner in 2005. He was instrumental in building the Wipro's technology business from a $150-million software entity to a $1.4-billion giant. He quit amid differences with Wipro chairman Azim Premji. Paul currently serves on board of Electronic Arts and on the advisory council of the Federal Reserve of San Francisco.
Paul is raising the fund in a tough market where limited partners are cutting allocation to funds as their investment portfolio's are shrinking. Many funds are also revising targets.
Before joining Wipro, Paul worked at consulting firm Bain & Co and at Pepsico in their M&A area.
