Biography: Private funds

Ashwath is a partner of Amarchand Mangaldas and heads its funds practice having joined the firm in 1999, after graduating from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. He has handled complex transactions (M&A, private equity and funds) involving innovative solution oriented structuring, interaction with regulators and a multidisciplinary approach to advice, taking into account and balancing commercial, legal, regulatory and tax considerations.

He has been rated by Chambers & Partners (Chambers Asia) as amongst the leading M&A, private equity and real estate fund practitioners in India, by Asia Pacific Legal 500 as a leading investment funds practitioner in India and has been named as a `Leading Lawyer' in the 2011 Leading Lawyer 100 Guide in the category of private funds, mergers and acquisitions.

The focus of his practice is to provide turnkey assistance to general partners in the structuring and establishment of investment funds seeking to invest in India with its complex legal and regulatory environment. Clients include State Bank of India (SBI), Macquarie, JP Morgan, Kotak Mahindra, IDFC, Nomura, Silicon Valley Bank, IFCI Limited and ICICI Bank. He recently acted as fund counsel for the SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Fund, the Oman India Joint Investment Fund (sponsored by the governments of Oman and India) and Kaizen Private Equity, India's first education sector focused fund. Limited partners represented by him include IFC (Washington), the CDC Group, Squadron Capital and Morgan Stanley.

Ashwath's career as a funds practitioner began over a decade ago by assisting with the establishment and operation of several mutual funds in India. Mutual fund clients include Fidelity, DSP BlackRock, AIG, Unit Trust of India (UTI) AMC and SBI Mutual Fund.