A matter of fact dealmaker

Had Sunil Sanghai not been an investment banker, he could have been a senior strategist with one of the national political parties, or a career diplomat or the backroom boy of a corporate thinktank.

He shuns being photographed, rarely goes on record, and is the master of polite conversation: if he wants to, he can for hours talk to you without saying anything.

After a long, liquid lunch with a CEO or a senior bureacract, where Sunil will either stick to his spartan Marwari fare or skip food entirely because he’s on fast — and, he often is — our man will inevitably end up collecting more information than he shares.

He will meticulously make a mental note of all little details and trivia — tidbits of the corporate world, whispers in the corridors of power and winds of change in business environment.

Here’s a man who believes in cultivating people of all kinds and remembering whatever they say.
   
In the cut-throat world of investment banking, these qualities have come handy. Having spent four years in Goldman Sachs where he contributed significantly to the firm’s initial success in India — having executed complex transactions like the Satyam sale last year — Sunil will join HSBC in September as managing director, head of global banking.

In HSBC he would be responsible for the bank’s corporate banking and investment banking businesses in India.

In the world of deal making, Sunil was at the right place at the right time. He received his training from India’s No 1 dealmaker Nimesh Kampani at JM Morgan Stanley and had a brief stint with Morgan Stanley Singapore — experiences that shaped his understanding of financial products, and local and international markets.
   
In 2007 he became the managing director at Goldman, and in 2009 moved up to become i-banking co-head.
   
Over the years, as he made new friends, kept in touch with the old ones and picked up all the buzz that mattered, Sunil got himself associated with many firsts in the Indian capital market.

He was involved in ICICI’s first book building process in 1996, the institution’s first umbrella prospectus filing in 1997, several international listings by Indian companies, the first non-convertible debenture plus warrant issuance by HDFC, the largest follow on offering out of India by ICICI Bank in 2007, and the first IDR issue that was recently completed by the British bank StanChart.

“Somehow, he enjoys finding a creative solution to something that’s complex and difficult,” says a former colleague.
   
Surviving in an unforgiving world of dealmaking, Sunil is a disciplined, matter of fact man with a strange taste for religious writings, and all kinds of biographies.

“There’s always something to learn from such books,” he tells his friends. At 42, Sunil is a regular at the Mumbai marathon, and usually turns to his sitar and keyboard when he’s not scanning the Geeta or visiting temples in Varanasi.

That’s curious for an i-banker, a tribe that conjures images of flashy lifestyle and holidays in the Bahamas.

But make no mistake. Sunil may be far away from anything exotic, but he won’t waste a moment to step into that less familiar world if he feels a deal is brewing.