PAG appoints financial services veteran Pankaj Razdan as vice chairman and MD of Edelweiss Wealth

MUMBAI: Asia-focused investment firm PAG has hired Pankaj Razdan, former deputy chief executive of Aditya Birla Capital, as the vice chairman and managing director of Edelweiss Wealth Management (EWM), where it recently picked up a 61.5% stake for Rs2,366 crore, said a person aware of the development.

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“Pankaj Razdan will be at the forefront of PAG’s strategic initiatives. He would be working closely with CEO Nitin Jain, who will continue to drive business operations. The announcement is likely to be made this week,” he said.

Razdan, an engineer by qualification, oversaw multiple businesses at Aditya Birla Capital such as asset management, offshore, distribution, broking and wealth management. Prior to Aditya Birla Capital, he was MD and CEO at ICICI Prudential Asset Management.

EWM reported a revenue of Rs880 crore and a profit of Rs180 crore for nine month period of FY21. The wealth manager’s customer assets under advice stand at around Rs1.45 trillion, growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) 43% from Rs185 billion in 2015.

The PAG transaction involved a primary capital infusion of around Rs450 crore into EWM.

“The net worth of the company will go up to ₹1600 crore from ₹1200 crore. The capital infusion will largely be used towards enhancing our margin financing and ESOP financing products catering to our private banking clients," said WM chief executive Nitin Jain, in an interaction with Mint on 27 March.

The wealth manager will also seek inorganic opportunities to grow its business going ahead,

"We continue to look for inorganic growth opportunities in the Wealth Management space and think that there are quite a few options available in the market. Selectively we are also looking at the FinTech space, but that is more from a point of enhancing capabilities," Jain added.