Sarath Sathkumara Joins Taiyo Pacific Partners

Sarath Sathkumara has joined Taiyo Pacific Partners as a Managing Director and will help evaluate and capitalize on new investment opportunities in Asia for Taiyo Pacific Partners.

Sarath has over 25 years of experience in international capital markets and investing. Most recently, Sarath was the Chief Investment Officer of SBI Venture Capital in Singapore, the overseas arm of the SBI Group, a Japanese private equity/venture capital firm with assets under management of $5 billion. From 2002 to 2008, Sarath was a Senior Portfolio Manager with the State Street Global Advisors’ Emerging Markets Group in Boston, with assets under management of $12 billion, focusing on Asian and Middle Eastern markets. Prior to that, Sarath spent seven years with Capital International in Singapore as part of Capital International’s Emerging Markets team, with assets under management of $20 billion, investing in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Prior to Capital International, Sarath spent 10 years with the HSBC Group in corporate finance and banking in Dubai, San Francisco and New York.

Brian Heywood, CEO of Taiyo Pacific Partners, said, “We are excited to have Sarath join our team. Few people have Sarath’s level of market experience and knowledge in the greater India region and we are confident that he will help Taiyo replicate its success in Japan in other Asian markets. We think that the ties between Japan and India are strengthening and that there is the potential for significant synergies between these two important countries.”

Taiyo Pacific Partners, located in Kirkland, Washington, was founded in 2003 by Asia-focused professionals dedicated to friendly shareholder activism in Japan and other Asian countries. The initial Taiyo Fund launched in Japan in June of 2003, and has grown to nearly $2 billion in assets across three Japan focused friendly activist funds. Taiyo managed funds are backed by large US as well as European pension plans and endowments.