Mizuho Financial Group, Japan’s third largest lender with $2 trillion in assets, has hired private equity veteran Sanjay Nayar as external senior advisor for Mizuho Bank India (Mizuho), said a press statement.
The appointment of Sanjay Nayar, effective March 31, 2024, will support the development of Mizuho’s local growth strategy, it said.
An active player in the Indian financial services space, Mizuho has already infused about $500 million (₹4,100 crore) into its India bank branches. Mizuho made an investment of $145 million for a 15% equity stake in credit card issuer Credit Saison’s Indian subsidiary, Kisetsu Saison Finance (India) recently.
Nayar, who started his career as a banker at Citibank, served as the CEO of Citigroup’s Indian and South Asian operations and was a member of Citigroup’s management committee and Asia executive operating committee. He set up KKR’s operations in India, when the New York-based PE firm started its India office.
He currently runs his own venture capital business, Sorin Investments.
Sorin Investments, a technology-focussed fund, co-founded by Sanjay Nayar and Angad Banga – former principal with KKR, had raised a corpus of over Rs 1,000 crore.
The fund comprises investments from Henry Kravis, George Roberts, and other associates of the US based KKR & Co, along with Sunil Kant Munjal, the chairman of Hero Enterprise, and a few Indian family offices.
