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

By Baiju Kalesh and Manuel Baigorri
 

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

Gaurav Mehta, a partner and head of Raine in India, and managing directors Naveen Asopa and Girish Punjabi are departing the firm, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.
 

Prior to 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 joined Raine in Mumbai after working at UBS and PwC. Asopa was previously at Morgan Stanley and PwC.

 
 

Raine co-founder Jeff Sine is now leading the Mumbai office and building up the team to help push forward a significant pipeline of deals, Raine spokesman Dan Gagnier said in response to a Bloomberg News query. He declined to comment on individual personnel matters as a policy.
 

“Over the last year we have been actively structuring our business in India to support the velocity of cross-border transactions that tie into our multi-office, team-based approach,” Gagnier said, adding that the company continues to see significant opportunity for its advisory and investing mandates in the region.
 

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

Raine’s marquee deals in India include the $8.5 billion joint venture between The Walt Disney Co. and Reliance Industries Ltd. that combined their respective digital streaming and television assets in the country in 2024.
 

The boutique adviser has worked on sports deals internationally such as the England & Wales Cricket Board’s private investment into the eight teams in The Hundred, the short-form tournament that’s pulling in younger and more family-oriented fans. It has also worked on transactions related to the Indian Premier League cricket franchises.
 

India’s market for first-time share sales is off to a slow start in 2026, after two consecutive years of record fundraising. M&A activity has also been muted, with the volume of deals plunging more than 60% from the same period a year ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.