With Kaku Nakhate at the helm, Bank of America (BoA) India has emerged as one of the leading green energy financiers by facilitating deals worth $5 billion in recent years. Nakhate says the country is a bright spot for global sustainability funds as public markets are largely shut to big-ticket capital raising. The bank will also continue focusing on highly profitable ‘distressed debt financing’ business in renewable energy sector. BoA India helped Actis LLP in $1.6 billion sale of Sprng Energy to Shell. It also advised TPG Rise on its $1 billion investment in Tata Motors’ electric vehicle business.
Nakhate, an alumnus of Narsee Monjee Institute of Finance Studies, started her career as Head Of Global Markets at DSP Merrill Lynch in 1989. In 2009, she became vice chairperson of JP Morgan and in 2010 assumed charge as Country Head for Bank of America Merrill Lynch in India. Though BoA, the sixth-largest foreign bank in India, is one of the leading wealth management, corporate advisory and capital market players in India, under Nakhate, it has also forayed into ‘block deal’ advisory and distressed debt financing. The bank has also scored big in the emerging advisory block deal business in secondary markets. The prominent deals include Uber Inc.’s $390 million share sale in Zomato Ltd., Tencent’s block trade in Policybazaar and Softbank’s $200 million sale of shares in Paytm. — B.S. Srinivasalu Reddy