Haresh Chawla joins India Value Fund Advisors as Partner

The former Group CEO of Network18 and Viacom18 will be responsible for building and scaling up businesses owned by IVFA, including Media & Entertainment investments

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | April 10, 2012

India Value Fund Advisors (IVFA), one of India's leading private equity firms, today announced the appointment of Haresh Chawla as Partner in India. Chawla, who quit Network18 early this year as Group CEO, Network18 and Viacom18, will join India Value Fund Advisors starting June 1 this year. He will be responsible for building and scaling up businesses owned by IVFA across sectors, as well as leading Media & Entertainment investments.

Announcing the appointment, Vishal Nevatia, Managing Partner, IVFA, commented, "Haresh brings with him unique experience, having built several world-class brands in the media and entertainment space. He blends professional management with entrepreneurial drive and the combination will be invaluable in helping IVFA scale up and further build our portfolio of businesses."

He further said, "Given Haresh's experience in creating a strong work culture that unlocks creativity and synergy within the group, his joining us also marks the beginning of IVFA's journey to make each of its portfolio of businesses 'the best place to work' in their respective domains."

Commenting on his new assignment, Chawla said, "India Value Fund Advisors is a uniquely positioned firm that not only infuses capital but also the mindset and strategic management thinking that is required to scale up mid-sized businesses into large professionally-run enterprises. This operating model was particularly appealing to me as a chance to leverage my experience in building up businesses and helping management teams perform to their true potential.”

IVFA was established in 1999 and is one of the most experienced private equity firms in India, with $1.3 billion under management across four funds. Strongly believing in the 'Invest & Build' model, IVFA is focused on identifying and investing in mid-sized businesses, and then helping them transform into large admired businesses over five to seven years. Its current investments include Radio City, Meru Cabs, RDC Concrete, InLogistics, Mahindra Hinoday, Atria Convergence Technologies (ACT), DM Healthcare and RoboSilicon, amongst others. In the past, IVFA had also invested in Shringar Films, Biocon, DQ Entertainment, TTK Healthcare, Epicenter and HDFC Bank, amongst others. Other partners at IVFA include Sanjay Arte, Pramod Kabra, Sunil Theckath, Vikram Nirula and Mahesh Krishnamurthy.

In a career spanning over two decades, Chawla's expertise lies in building viable and profitable business models around brands – by identifying opportunities, leveraging synergies across platforms and unlocking people value to fuel growth. Under his leadership, Network18 grew from a single business news channel (CNBC-TV18) and solitary portal (Moneycontrol.com), with revenues of Rs 15 crore in 1999, to a truly diversified media group with revenues in excess of Rs 2,500 crore in 2011. He was also instrumental in scaling up Viacom18 from a Rs 150-crore business to a Rs 1,200-crore conglomerate, with each of its brand amongst the top 2 in their respective domains, including the very successful launch of Colors.

His previous assignments have all been with start-ups including the HCL Group, where he headed business development for HCL Comnet; ABCL, where he set up the film distribution business; and The Times of India Group where he launched their music label, Times Music.

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