Pankaj Patwari joined Advent in 2014 and is a Managing Director in Mumbai. He advises on investments in the healthcare and industrial sectors. Pankaj is a member of Advent’s Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. He has advised on nine investments during his career, seven while at Advent.
Prior to joining Advent, Pankaj spent six years at Bain Capital, where he worked on several transactions in the pharmaceutical and industrial sectors. Before that, he spent four years at McKinsey & Co., focusing primarily on financial services.
Pankaj has an MBA from Indian Institute of Management (Lucknow) and is a Chartered Accountant.
How do you identify companies that would interest Advent?
Advent is looking for companies that have optionality beyond the operating case,. By that I mean that there are clear levers Advent can pull – M&A, for example – that could help transform the company. Another element which helps is identifying positive macro tailwinds early on. If you can anticipate trends before others latch on to them, it gives you a significant advantage. Having deep sector expertise as well as a presence on the ground in so many countries helps us identify trends in a particular sub-sector.
How has Advent’s culture of collaboration driven impact?
To give an example, Advent made an investment in India that was at the crossroads of healthcare, consumer, and digital. This investment required deep collaboration across sectors and geographies, starting with the consumer and healthcare teams coming together. Advent could quickly leverage our global resources to get views on how to turn the business into a private-label powerhouse, and to figure out how to build a profitable digital platform.
“You must be prepared to listen, and to ask questions: the more you ask, the more you learn.”
Pankaj Patwari
Managing Director, Advent
What advice would you give to someone joining Advent?
You must be prepared to listen, and to ask questions: the more you ask, the more you learn, and the better your decision-making becomes. I think it’s our responsibility as leaders to show by example, by making sure we ask other’s opinions. When we’re going through diligence, or through the process of signing up, I make a point of asking our team members what they feel about the deal, so we can keep reflecting on it and come to the right answer.
What surprised you about working at Advent?
I joined Advent in 2014, when we were at an early stage of our journey in India. What had surprised me about the firm – and was a big reason why I joined – was the honesty of its people. Everyone was totally clear about where we were in India, where we wanted to get to, and the choices we would have to make to achieve that. What made me want to stay at Advent was the culture of humility, entrepreneurship, and empowerment.
What keeps you grounded and balanced outside the office?
My morning workouts do that for me. I’m up every morning at five o’clock before the day starts to hit my workouts. It’s almost meditative – it gives me the energy for the day and helps me to be focused. I’ve been following the same pattern for more than 20 years.
