Blackstone's ASK plans to hire 70 wealth bankers in India
[MUMBAI] Blackstone's ASK Group plans to hire 70 private bankers as competition heats up within India's booming wealth management space.
ASK's private wealth unit aims to have 175 bankers by the end of March next year, up from about 105 now, Rajesh Saluja, chief executive officer and co-founder of the business, said.
The rise of wealthy Indians across the country has sparked the creation of many new firms competing to manage their money, while more established players like ASK Private Wealth, Bain Capital-backed 360 One WAM and PAG-backed Nuvama Wealth Management are expanding their teams.
Mumbai-based ASK Private Wealth has 520 billion rupees (S$7.7 billion) of assets under advisory for more than 3,700 families. Blackstone acquired a majority stake in the broader ASK Group in 2022. The group has over 745 billion rupees in assets across alternative investment funds, portfolio management services and private wealth.
Even with the growth, ASK will be cautious about hiring, especially those private bankers who have been jumping jobs often or who see risky products as their ticket to personal wealth creation, Saluja said.
'I want to be sure that the expense is justified, they fit our culture, and we are getting the right candidate,' he said.
Saluja expects investors to continue investing in gold and fixed-income alternative funds such as distressed and high-yield debt, while remaining committed to equity index funds and mutual funds, among other asset classes. BLOOMBERG
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
13 hours ago
- Straits Times
Japanese restaurants, food companies switching to noodles from rice
Rice prices have doubled from 2024 and remain around a spike initially triggered by a poor harvest. PHOTO: AFP As cost-sensitive consumers are steering clear of rice after a price surge to record highs, restaurant chains and food companies are turning to noodles. Antworks Co, operator of Densetsu no Sutadonya eateries offering pork rice bowls, opened its first ramen noodle restaurant in Tokyo in May and plans another three by next February to diversify its operations. 'We have touted our (pork bowl) business as a large portion of our business portfolio, but rice prices are now more than three times higher than those several years ago,' a spokesperson at the Tokyo-based restaurant chain operator said. A pork rice bowl set meal with miso soup and raw egg is now priced at 890 yen (S$7.80), compared with 630 yen in 2021. The spokesperson said consumers would likely stay away if the price were raised to over 1,000 yen. 'The outlook for our business would be more severe if we were just focusing on (pork) bowls,' the official said, adding that the cost of a ramen noodle dish is 100 yen to 150 yen cheaper than a pork bowl. Yoshinoya Holdings Co, the parent of major beef bowl restaurant operator Yoshinoya Co, is also strengthening its ramen noodle business, as it views the beef bowl restaurant market in Japan as saturated. Yoshinoya Holdings Executive vice-president Norihiro Ozawa says its ramen noodle business allows the company to 'balance' ingredient costs with offerings aside from rice and meat. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, rice prices have doubled from 2024 and remain around a spike initially triggered by a poor harvest. The average price stood at 4,176 yen per 5kg in the week through June 8, despite releases from the government's rice stockpiles. At supermarkets, consumers are looking for alternatives to rice. According to TableMark Co, sales of its frozen udon noodles grew around 10 per cent in value terms in April and May from 2024, while sales of Kikkoman Corp's packaged udon noodle soup and ingredients rose 10 per cent in the three months through May from the same period in 2024. Meiji Holdings C. said sales of its mainstay Meiji Bulgaria Yogurt products have maintained around 10 per cent growth each month since April 2024. KYODO NEWS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
14 hours ago
- Straits Times
The systemic flaw in Digital India no one wants to talk about
A centrepiece of India's digital transformation is its payment system. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG – Visitors to India are often struck by dhoti-clad farmers using WhatsApp, coconut sellers accepting QR code payments, and city folk hailing tuk-tuks over Uber. But last week, as I watched an elderly neighbour battle with a counter-intuitive website to convert her precious property licence into an e-document, I took pause. The meet-cute of tradition and modernity hides underlying hardships Indians face during the country's digitalisation drive. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
20 hours ago
- Straits Times
Asus fends off bid to ban US laptop imports in Lenovo patent dispute
Lenovo has accused Asus' computers of infringing patents related to wireless communications, diagonal touchpad scrolling and other technology. PHOTO: UNSPLASH Asus fends off bid to ban US laptop imports in Lenovo patent dispute WASHINGTON - Taiwanese electronics maker Asus on June 20 defeated rival Lenovo's bid to block American imports of Asus' Zenbook laptops and other computers as part of a patent dispute between the two companies. The ruling by the US International Trade Commission was a defeat for Hong Kong-based Lenovo in a patent fight with Asus that extends to California federal court and Europe's Unified Patent Court. Lenovo has accused Asus' computers of infringing patents related to wireless communications, diagonal touchpad scrolling and other technology. The commission's order on June 20, which upheld an ITC judge's preliminary decision from February, can be appealed to the Washington-based US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Spokespeople for Lenovo and Asus did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the decision. Lenovo, the world's largest PC maker, sued Asus in San Jose, California, and at the ITC in 2023, alleging that technology in Asus' Zenbook Pro and Zenbook Flip 14 laptops infringed a variety of its patents. Lenovo asked the California court for an unspecified amount of monetary damages, including lost profits and royalties, and an order permanently blocking the alleged infringement. The California lawsuit was paused during the ITC proceedings. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
