“Our Vision is to be the premier global M&A advisor, trusted by businesses to drive enduring growth and shareholder value.”
Mahesh Singhi (Founder & MD, Singhi Advisors)
Singhi Advisors incepted in 1989 by Mahesh Singhi, today stands as India’s leading strategic M&A advisory for businesses that seek to enhance mid-to-long-term shareholder value across growth, maturity, and exit. The firm’s core offering of strategic global M&A advisory is complemented by corporate advisory, business consulting, capital raising, corporate finance and other customised value-added services.
Singhi Advisors prides itself on keeping its track record of “diversity in deal-making”. With unique expertise in successfully closing transactions across various sectors, the firm has navigated deals involving family-owned businesses, Fortune 500 companies, public and private companies, professionally managed institutions, small to mid-size enterprises, companies in the manufacturing & service sector, transactions between healthy companies to companies in distress, and more.
“Since 1989, our work has been driven by one mission in mind – To deliver unparalleled strategic M&A advisory services to businesses by leveraging our deep industry knowledge, relationships, expertise and readiness to go the extra mile,” shares the Founder.
Journey of Singhi Advisors
Phase 1 (1989-1990): Project Advisory
Phase 2 (1991-1995): Project Finance
Phase 3 (1996-1999): Corporate Finance & Restructuring
Phase 4 (2000-2002): Venture Incubation & Corporate Restructuring
Phase 5 (2003-2005): Domestic M&A, PE and Corporate Advisory
Phase 6 (2007-Present): Global M&A
Discover the Driving Force
Mahesh Singhi founded Singhi Advisors in 1989. The rise of Singhi Advisors from scratch to India’s leading strategic M&A advisory is a testament to his leadership, knowledge, business acumen, and unwavering dedication to his profession.
Throughout his extensive career spanning more than three decades in corporate advisory and financial services, Mahesh has served over 800 companies across diverse regions and industry sectors in project consulting, project finance, investment banking, venture capital, and private equity.
“My aim is to create an entrepreneurial platform that leverages business knowledge and human capital to establish a top-tier institution, focused on helping enterprises build sustainable long-term value,” states Mr. Singhi.
Quantifying Success: How Metrics Drive Achievement
Since the firm’s inception, Singhi Advisors stays ahead of the rest market players and the numbers say it all.
- ~450 years of collective experience brought by 50+ professionals
- >1,000 assignments completed since inception
- In the last eight years, advised more than 120 transactions with a cumulative value of approximately USD 5 billion
- Well-established relationships with over 2000 companies across the globe including Fortune 500 companies
- Presence in 25 countries through exclusive member firms
- Expertise in 18 unique sectors/subsectors and expanding into new-age sectors such as big data, fintech, clean tech, blockchain, and sustainability
- Strategic stakeholder and key member firm with Mergers Alliance
Best-in-class Services
With an experienced team of 50 skilled professionals, Singhi Advisors excels in what it provides. Here are the services offered by the firm:
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Professionals at Singhi Advisors have a deep understanding of markets, opportunities and trends which enables them to assist clients in formulating strategic growth strategies and identifying suitable acquisition targets. They excel in crafting approaches to potential acquisition candidates and skillfully negotiating the terms and structure of potential transactions due to their extensive experience in these delicate and complex matters.
Their expertise in representing both strategic and financial acquirers in domestic and cross-border transactions includes various crucial aspects:
- Strategic analysis of a potential acquisition
- Rigorous prospect screening
- Approaching targeted prospects
- Valuation of acquirer and prospect
- Transaction negotiation
- Managing due diligence
- Cultural sensitivity in cross-border M&A transactions
- “Coaching” counterparties to maximise transaction outcome
DISINVESTMENTS
The firm specialises in Mergers, Sales, and Divestitures. The team, with its extensive experience in these core areas, achieve favourable results for the clients, while following a disciplined and tightly managed process. Its highly structured sale process, combined with its strong relationships with private equity and strategic investors, ensures the delivery of superior results to the clients.
STRATEGIC ADVISORY SERVICES
Besides M&A and disinvestment services, the firm masters in providing corporate strategic advisory services, including:
- Performing a benchmark valuation
- Evaluating valuation drivers
- Exploring strategic acquired growth opportunities
- Creating financial modelling of different acquisition scenarios
- Building target screens
- Managing business growth
- Review of governance practices
- Developing a strategic roadmap
- Guiding shareholders on an exit or liquidity strategy
- Advising on capital structure, public or private ownership and other client-specific issues
PRIVATE EQUITY
Professionals at Singhi Advisors have a profound understanding of private equity funds, enabling them to offer independent advice on buyouts. The firm’s guidance on buyouts is objective and unbiased, always prioritising the interests of the clients, whether it be the management team, private equity house, or exiting vendor.
Singhi’s Corporate Financiers possess expertise and insights that span the entire buyout process, including:
- Transaction feasibility
- Equity capital raising
- Debt capital raising
- Deal structuring
- Pricing
- Negotiating with finance providers, vendors, and management teams
- Effective project management to a successful closing
MANAGEMENT BUYOUTS
Singhi Advisors makes sure that its clients’ transactions are executed in a manner that paves the way for continuous and sustainable success. With a proficient Management Buy Out (MBO) team, the firm possesses the expertise to successfully facilitate the transaction.
If a business is available for sale, MBOs offer the management team, a distinctive and risk-managed opportunity to acquire the business they are currently managing.
“We also provide accelerated M&A, corporate finance & debt restructuring advisory services and joint ventures, strategic alliances & partnerships advisory services,” mentions Mr Singhi.
Some Exclusive M&A and Disinvestment Deals
- Advised HIL Ltd, a building materials company, on the acquisition of the “AAC Block” business of Fast Build Blocks Pvt Ltd in Orissa on a slump sell basis. HIL Ltd is part of the CK Birla Group with a value of $2.8 billion.
- Exclusively advised the €1.5bn acquisition of the Engineering Plastic Compounding business of “Ester Industries Ltd” by European major Radici Group, a company engaged in High-Performance Polymers & Speciality Chemicals.
- Acted as the exclusive M&A advisor for Greaves Cotton Ltd in its acquisition of Excel Controlinkage Pvt Ltd, a leading player in Mechanical & Electronic Motion Control Systems. The upfront valuation for the deal was INR 3850 million.
- Served as the M&A advisor for Walter Pack Group, a global leader in the design and development of functional decorative/plastic parts. The firm assisted in the divestment of a 90% stake in the Indian subsidiary, WPI, to SJS Enterprises Ltd, a prominent player in the decorative aesthetics industry in India. The value of the deal was approximately INR 280 crore.
- M&A and strategic Advisor for JayKay Enterprises Limited, part of the “JK Organization,” for acquiring a controlling stake in Allen Reinforced Plastics Private Limited.
Guided By Core Values
Since the firm’s inception, Singhi Advisors has strived to achieve client satisfaction above everything else without compromising on the core value system. The foundation of its actions is built upon these four core values:
- Putting Clients First
- Be a Differentiator
- Doing The Right Thing, At The Right Time
- Giving Back
Singhi Advisors strictly adheres to its core value- ‘Do The Right Thing’, a commitment to personal responsibility, making ethical decisions, and being accountable for actions.
In Mahesh’s words, To ensure that the firm upholds this value, it considers key questions before acting, such as compliance with laws, alignment with Singhi’s core values, potential perception of impropriety, and impact on reputation.
- Is the action in compliance with laws, regulations and policies?
- Is the action consistent with this Code and the firm’s core values?
- Could the action be perceived by others as inappropriate or unethical?
- Could the action damage Singhi’s reputation?
The key management philosophies of the firm include the following:
- Passion for the mid-market
- Commitment to the culture
- Commitment to remain entrepreneurial
- Multi-local and globally integrated
- Commitment to growth
Awards and Recognitions
Singhi Advisors is emerging as one of India’s fastest-growing financial services firms. It has many recognitions to its name. Some of the highly coveted ones include:
- Winner of the Corporate International – M&A Advisory Firm of the Year in India
- Consistently ranked amongst India’s top 5 investment banks in Mid Market M&A
- The global network, Mergers-Alliance is ranked 16th worldwide by Thomson Financial
The Vision Ahead
Mahesh Singhi envisions establishing Singhi Advisors as a dynamic entrepreneurial platform, harnessing business knowledge and human capital to create a sustainable and exceptional firm renowned as the ultimate “deal-making platform.”
“Alongside assisting our clients in developing valuable enterprises, we aim to cultivate a best-in-class firm that fosters long-term resources and expertise in deal-making, positioning us at the forefront of the industry. Singhi Advisors is a place Where Deals Get Done,” Mahesh signs off.
