Ashok Wadhwa to buy QInvest’s 26% Ambit stake; Saurabh Mukherjea Chooses Exit

Ace dealmaker Ashok Wadhwa, group CEO at Ambit Holdings, will acquire Qatari investment firm QInvest LLC’s 26% stake in the financial services group, according to a media report.

Wadhwa said that he would, alone or along with other Ambit employees, buy the stake “anytime soon”. Wadhwa didn’t disclose the timing or value of the deal that will help QInvest exit its decade-long investment in the Mumbai company.

Qatari royal family last year had said, through its investment banking firm QInvest was looking to fully divest its stake in Ambit Pvt. Ltd but was facing difficulty finding the right buyers at the preferred valuation.

In a separate development, Wadhwa also confirmed the resignation of Saurabh Mukherjea, who headed the Ambit Group’s institutional equities and wealth management verticals. Mukherjea, having spent nearly eight years at Ambit Capital, will officially step down in the July-September quarter, the report added.

Ambit Capital managing director Pramod Gubbi will now head the institutional equities business. Wadhwa and Ambit Group co-CEO Rahul Gupta will now operate the asset management and private wealth business.