Getting CSFB back

BACKSTAGE

A top level Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) team is going to wing its way to India shortly to finalise the Swiss-US investment bank's investment strategy. This, in fact, will be the team's fourth visit in the space of a few months. Among other things, it will decide whether to go solo or take a partner, and what lines of business to enter. If all goes well, CSFB's second innings in India could take off in the second quarter of 2006.

A far cry from the mess that CSFB was in the not too distant past. The Securities and Exchange Board of India had banned it from the stock market for its alleged role in the 2001 price-fixing scandal, though it was allowed to carry on its personal finance and private banking activities.

It took CSFB's country head for India, Ajeya Singh, two-and-a-half years to clean up the act. According to informed sources, there are only three investigations left on CSFB's role in the scandal. A final decision on these investigations is expected shortly.

When Singh signed up with CSFB in 2003, on the condition that he will run the show after putting the house in order, little would he have known how deep the rot ran. People close to the situation disclose that there was palpable distrust of CSFB in the corridors of power. A top CSFB official who had flown in from the US was shown the door by Sebi officials within minutes.

It was left for Singh to co-operate in the investigations. What might have made the task more onerous from him is that the Sebi brass has changed twice during the course of the investigations: from D R Mehta to G N Bajpai to M Damodaran.

But Singh is no stranger to the ways of the Indian bureaucracy "" he is former Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh's son. CSFB is now gearing up to roll out in India once again. Industry sources mention that Singh has also been able to get four FII licences for CSFB in the past year or so.

An alumnus of Mayo College, Ajmer, and Kanpur University, Singh is an associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, England & Wales, and holds a diploma in corporate finance from the London School of Business.

After working with some top names in the financial world such as Duncan Lawries, Citicorp Investment Bank and Merrill Lynch, Singh became director (corporate finance) at Bear Stearns in 1994. The next year, he joined Lehman Brothers as country head for India. During the next four years, Singh was active in the Indian M&A market, apart from negotiating an alliance between Lehman brothers and SBI Capital Markets Ltd. In 1999, Singh went independent as Lehman Brothers decided to wind up in India. Four years later, Singh was on CSFB's rolls.

Now, Singh is preparing for his new role. Trading in securities, distressed assets and investment banking "" it's a world Singh is familiar with.