KKR appoints Citigroup's Sanjay Nayar as CEO, India country head

Nayar spent 23 years working for Citigroup in various roles. Most recently, he was the CEO of Citi, India and South Asia, and a member of Citigroup's Asia Executive Operating and Senior Leadership Committees.

Nayar is also the deputy chairman of the Indian Bank's Association, chairman of the Foreign Banks' Committee of the IBA, a member of the board of USIBC, co-chairman of the Banking Committee for the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry and co-chairman of the Habitat for Humanity India Builds campaign.

Henry R Kravis and George R Roberts, founding partners of KKR, said in a statement, 'India is now a core part of our growing global private equity and investment platform. We believe India's compelling demographics, dynamic economy and culture of entrepreneurship will provide superior long-term investment opportunities. Sanjay is uniquely suited to build a broad based investment platform for KKR across a wide range of asset classes, including private equity, real estate, infrastructure and fixed income.'

Joseph Y Bae, the managing partner of KKR Asia, and Oliver Haarmann, a London-based KKR partner actively involved in the firm's Indian efforts, said, 'When we established our business in Asia, we made it our priority to identify and recruit the highest calibre professionals with well-established networks and strong business track records. As such, we are delighted to have appointed Sanjay to this key role. He brings to KKR unrivalled experience in India and will work not only to identify new investment opportunities, but also to assist our existing portfolio companies with their growth and investment plans for India.'

KKR will set up an office in Mumbai and plans to recruit staff to support this new initiative.

Established in 1976, KKR has offices in New York, Menlo Park, San Francisco, Houston, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo and Sydney.

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