3 senior bankers depart Raine Group India to launch new investment firm | Company News

Baiju Kalesh and Manuel Baigorri

Three senior bankers at India’s Raine Group, including its country head, are set to leave the boutique adviser to start a new investment banking firm, according to people familiar with the matter.

Raine’s partner and president in India, Gaurav Mehta, and general managers Naveen Asopa and Girish Punjabi will leave the company, sources said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.

Before joining Raine in 2017, Mehta led India investment banking at UBS Group AG. He also worked at Morgan Stanley and HSBC Holdings Plc, according to his LinkedIn profile. Punjabi joins Raine in Mumbai after working at UBS and PwC. Asopa was previously at Morgan Stanley and PwC.

Raine co-founder Jeff Sine now runs the Mumbai office and is building the team that will help advance a significant pipeline of deals, Raine spokesman Dan Gagnier said in response to a query from Bloomberg News. As a policy, he declined to comment on individual personnel matters.

“Over the past year, we have actively structured our business in India to support the speed of cross-border transactions associated with our multi-office, team-based approach,” Gagnier said, adding that the company continues to see significant opportunities for its advisory and investment mandates in the region.

Raine provides advisory services including mergers and acquisitions, divestitures and private capital raising. The New York-based firm also manages growth capital and venture capital strategies with more than $3.1 billion in assets under management.

Raine’s notable deals in India include The Walt Disney Co. with Reliance Industries Ltd. It includes an $8.5 billion joint venture that combines respective digital broadcast and television assets in the country in 2024.

The boutique consultant has worked on international sports deals such as the England and Wales Cricket Board’s private investment in eight teams in The Hundred, a short-run tournament that attracts younger, more family-oriented fans. He has also worked on transactions related to Indian Premier League cricket franchises.

India’s debut share sale market is off to a slow start to 2026 after two consecutive years of record fundraising. M&A activity also remained muted, with deal volume down more than 60% from the same period a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.