Chandrashekar is the Founder of ANOVA, who has almost two decades of experience in various multinationals and with diversified sectors such as FMCG, Life Insurance, Audit & Assurance and Oil & Gas. His last stint was as Group Finance Director with Lornamead Group, a UK-based multinational in the FMCG space which owns well-known personal care brands such as Yardley of London, Finesse, etc. His prior stints include various finance and audit positions with MNCs such as ExxonMobil and KPMG in India.
He has led and been part of over 11 Acquisitions and 4 Divestments, besides re-structuring and re-financing transactions in North America, Europe, and India.
His deep knowledge and expertise in M&A lead him to establish ANOVA in 2013.
ANOVA is an Investment Banking & Advisory business that offers Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) Advisory and Fundraise services, besides Business Valuation, Financial and Commercial Due Diligence Services and Financial Modeling.
ANOVA also offers Strategic CFO services on selective basis, to empower Entrepreneurs and Business Owners with financial and commercial acumen.
“As I started, I chalked out a journey which would secure our growth, but in a consistent and phased manner,” says Chandrashekar. The last seven plus years have exactly been along these lines and the company has been growing in a consistent manner. With increasing learning curve, it has been able to iterate and pivot better in terms of how the firm is offering services and meet the requirements pragmatically.
Key Services offered
ANOVA specializes in Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) and provides an end-to-end solution to its clients. Given the experience with domestic and cross-border deal structures, ANOVA arrives at possible effective options to maximize value for clients and provide strategic support on pre-transition and post-transition matters. It works closely with the clients during the process, as well as independently liaise with advisors on the buyer / seller side to ensure smooth closure and transition.
ANOVA provides Due Diligence (DD) & Vendor Due Diligence (VDD) services with the intent of maximizing value, minimizing disruption, and avoiding late surprises. It also assists with DD Preparedness for Clients, with the aim of providing an end-to-end assistance for M&A / Fundraise Advisory for clients.
ANOVA also offers Business Valuation services to determine the right price to pay or accept for a business. It helps evaluate shareholder value for stakeholders by focusing on relevant comparatives, besides identifying the business synergies.
In Summary, ANOVA offers M&A Advisory and Fundraise services, besides Strategic CFO services to empower Entrepreneurs and Business Owners with financial / commercial acumen and support in strategic areas.
Initial Challenges
Chandrashekar says “To me, getting the Clients to accept that ‘things could be different, and that different can be better’ has been the toughest challenge!”
ANOVA’s larger strength has been in ‘structuring’ the requirement for the client. But then this calls for a different approach, and it has not been easy to persuade and convince the client(s) to adopt. To manage this, the team spends significant time and effort with the Entrepreneurs and the Senior Management, working closely without impacting their independence and focus on day-to-day operations. It simulates the end-result, mostly by citing appropriate illustrations, and is audacious enough to agree significant part of fees based on successful outcome. This has resulted in enlargement of trust in ANOVA, as well as building a strong association.
Recent Successes
Being Sector-Agnostic, ANOVA has completed assignments across various sectors including: Manufacturing, FMCG, Luxury Brands, Healthcare, Hospitality and Technology-led / Tech-Enabled businesses.
Select Recent Transactions advised by ANOVA include:
- Divestment of Novascotia Boutique Homes to OYO Rooms, India’s largest Hospitality company
- Divestment of majority stake in Helicord Transmissions, India, to Megadyne Group, an Italian manufacturing major
- Recent successful fundraise assignments include Fin-tech start-up Hotfoot Technology Solutions, early-stage Diagnostic company Acculi Labs (Lyfas), Business Intelligence start-up Veratech Intelligence.
Chandrashekar is also an active Angel Investor and has made investments in over 25 Start-ups across segments including EdTech, HealthTech, FMCG, ConsumerTech, F&B Services, Business Intelligence, LogiTech, FinTech and Gaming. He has made investments in early-stage VC Funds including 1Crowd, IvyCap, PointOne Capital, besides investing through various institutional angel investment platforms.
Vision
ANOVA’s vision and strive is to become a leading Investment Banker, and a brand well-known globally by 2025, and actively engage on advisory matters with corporates across the globe. It will be largely helping them mature in business process optimization and gain efficiency in financial information management. It aims to get involved in larger transactions as well as with cross-border opportunities.
ANOVA has also been working towards its vision of employing and training incumbents, especially from non-ivy league institutions, to generate and contribute towards employment in the Corporate Finance/Investment Banking segment.
“To top this all, we believe the day of managing our ‘own’ fund is not far away,” concludes Chandrashekar.
For More Details: http://www.anovacorporate.co.in/
