Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Asia Growth Capital Advisors (Singapore) Pvt. Ltd.
Harjit Bhatia founded Asia Growth Capital Advisors (AGCA) in August 2010 as a spin-off business from Credit Suisse Bank in Asia. AGCA is a private equity firm, headquartered in Singapore, with offices/affiliates in Mumbai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai. AGCA is registered with MAS and holds Capital Markets license.
Till July 2010, Mr. Bhatia was the Chairman and founding Managing Partner of Credit Suisse Private Equity Asia, a pan Asian fund sponsored by Credit Suisse as the exclusive investment vehicle in the region with international investors. Harjit joined Credit Suisse in April 2007 from Ritchie Capital Management (RCM) where he was Chairman and CEO, Asia Pacific and led RCM’s expansion into private equity investing in the Asia Pacific region. From July 2012 to November 2014, Mr. Bhatia also led and managed Asia Opportunities Fund II (originally sponsored by AIG) and related AIA co- investment programs, as Managing Partner & CEO at Pine Bridge Asia Partners.
Prior to RCM, Mr. Bhatia spent 11 years at General Electric Company (GE) in senior leadership positions, most recently as President and CEO of GE Corporate Financial Services in Asia Pacific. While at GE, Harjit pioneered and founded one of the first dedicated private equity investment programs in Asian private equity (1997-2002) across Asia Pacific with offices in Tokyo, Sydney, Mumbai, New Delhi, Jakarta, Singapore, and Hong Kong with focus on investing in growth sectors.
From 2003 to 2005, Mr. Bhatia led GE’s Asia-Pacific business (Global Financial Restructuring Business) focused on providing structured solutions to banks through distressed asset acquisition and broad corporate financial services, managing investment and portfolio management teams across offices in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Taipei, Beijing, Seoul, Bangkok, and Delhi. Prior to working at GE, Mr. Bhatia founded and led Deutsche Bank’s investment banking business in New Delhi (1991-1994), and worked at the State Bank of India (India’s largest commercial bank) for 18 years in various leadership positions in India and abroad (Japan and Italy), including being part of the team which founded India’s largest investment bank SBI Caps.
Overall, Mr. Bhatia has over 45 years of broad management experience across corporate lending, private equity, stressed assets investing, corporate finance, infrastructure, and international finance. Harjit has sat on the Boards of several portfolio companies in the region during his career. He is well known in the industry and is a frequent participant /speaker at industry dialogues and conferences. He is currently on the Asian Advisory Council of Global Emerging Markets Private Equity Association. Mr. Bhatia is also an advisor to CPPIB for their infrastructure investments in India through their investment company he helped set up in Singapore. He also sits on the Board Of Trustees of SINDA (Patron Mr. Lee H Loong PM of Singapore and Chairman Mr. Tharman, former Dy. Prime Minister and now Senior Minister in charge of public policy). He also sits on the Board of International Asset Reconstruction Company (majority owned by Blackstone with HDFC Bank and Tata Capital as co- investors).
Mr. Bhatia holds an MBA from the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, India and a Master of Commerce from the University of Allahabad, Allahabad, India. He is also a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers. Mr. Bhatia obtained a “Green Belt” certification under GE’s Six Sigma Quality Program. He is fluent in English, Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu.