Ved Prakash Arya, founder and managing director of private equity (PE) group Milestone Capital, died in a freak accident on Thursday after a tree fell on him while he was on a morning walk. Forty-one-year-old Arya is survived by his wife and two children.
Touted as one of the brightest and influential figures in the PE space, Arya had 17 years of experience in the real estate and retail sectors. Before starting Milestone in 2007, he worked as the chief operating officer and director at Pantaloon Retail and set up the Rajan Raheja group’s apparel retail chain, Globus. An alumnus of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Arya was one of the key persons driving the Future group’s real estate funds, Kshitij and Horizon. Under his leadership, Milestone launched eight PE schemes and took its assets under management to about Rs 4,500 crore.
He also forged partnerships with other asset management majors like IL&FS Investment Managers and Religare Enterprises.
An engineering graduate from University of Rajasthan, Arya had spent a year in ESSEC, France, doing research work. He had also completed an advanced management programme from Harvard Business School.
“It was one of the best periods of the company when he (Arya) worked with us. He was ambitious and wanted to achieve something in life,” said Kishore Biyani, group chief executive of Future Group.