“True merit is like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes.”
– Edward Wood

“True merit is like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes.”
– Edward Wood

Asset Management

We are one of the oldest small cap focused PMS in India with a 10+ year track record of generating top-decile long term returns and have emerged as a preferred investment manager for HNIs and Family Offices. Generating superior risk adjusted long term returns from small/mid cap companies requires application of the same rigor and discipline as in private equity investing. We aim to capitalize on opportunities with non-linear triggers for business and earnings momentum leading to alpha generation.

Our non-consensus approach entails our portfolio holdings (~15 stocks) and holding period (~5 year) differ from institutions such as mutual funds where investment decisions may be influenced by the composition of respective benchmark indices. We consciously avoid momentum stocks and needless churn in the portfolio. Our team consists of seasoned professionals from private and public markets with deep sectoral expertise. Our non-hierarchical team structure fosters open, intelligent debate on our investment ideas and allows us to remain nimble in our thinking.

We aim to deliver long term wealth creation by taking risk calibrated decisions and staying invested through the life cycle of businesses backed by high conviction.

Our unique Private Equity Approach constantly nudges us to look beyond past numbers and anticipate the future of a target company overarched by positive industry or sector tailwinds.

Asset Management

We are one of the oldest small cap focused PMS in India with a 10+ year track record of generating top-decile long term returns and have emerged as a preferred investment manager for HNIs and Family Offices. Generating superior risk adjusted long term returns from small/mid cap companies requires application of the same rigor and discipline as in private equity investing. We aim to capitalize on opportunities with non-linear triggers for business and earnings momentum leading to alpha generation.

Our non-consensus approach entails our portfolio holdings (~15 stocks) and holding period (~5 year) differ from institutions such as mutual funds where investment decisions may be influenced by the composition of respective benchmark indices. We consciously avoid momentum stocks and needless churn in the portfolio. Our team consists of seasoned professionals from private and public markets with deep sectoral expertise. Our non-hierarchical team structure fosters open, intelligent debate on our investment ideas and allows us to remain nimble in our thinking.

We aim to deliver long term wealth creation by taking risk calibrated decisions and staying invested through the life cycle of businesses backed by high conviction.

Our unique Private Equity Approach constantly nudges us to look beyond past numbers and anticipate the future of a target company overarched by positive industry or sector tailwinds.

Investment Philosophy

Investment Philosophy

Investing for the
Long Term

In our view, investing for the long-term is the only consistent way to generate a compounding marvel. The price of an equity investment can fluctuate drastically in the short-term but converges with its fair value over the long term. We invest with a ~5-year horizon and at times have stayed invested for even longer.

Nuanced Industry
Specific Expertise

Our conviction to remain invested for the long term comes from the nuanced industry specific expertise that our investment team has built over the years. We go beyond desk research to conduct on the ground channel checks with various stakeholders of a target business. Meeting with company management, peer companies, distributors, industry experts and visiting factories and work sites are part of the research process that helps us build conviction. We stay away from companies with poor governance or those indulging in ‘creative’ accounting.

Capturing the
Discovery Premium

One determinant of our superior investment performance is our focus on catching an investment thesis early in its life-cycle. Investing early helps us buy at reasonable valuations which also enhances the potential return. We generate alpha by capitalizing on non-linear triggers of business and earnings growth.

Growth at
Reasonable Valuations

We buy solid businesses that exhibit multi-year structural growth trends (ideally aided by macro or policy tailwinds) run by clean, competent managements and available at a reasonable valuation.

Price Guard
Rail Framework

We strongly believe the most effective risk mitigant in small/mid cap investing is to not overpay to buy even a good business. We employ our price guard rail framework to assign entry and exit prices for every investment we approve. We do not run model portfolios as that can compel a fund manager to buy stocks at unfavourable valuations.

Portfolio
Construction

We build client portfolios with ~15 stocks – an optimal number - bringing the benefits of diversification while minimising concentration risk. We limit our exposure at a company and sector level and prudently book profits from time to time as our investment theses play out.

Key Investment
Risks

The biggest risk in equity investing is the permanent loss of capital. It is our endeavour at all times to keep one eye on growth and the other on capital preservation. Our disciplined private equity approach has helped us immensely in buying quality businesses and avoiding pitfalls. One risk we cannot avoid is market volatility and resultant temporary drawdowns. However, we have been able to mitigate the risk of ‘significant drawdowns’ in our client portfolios by adhering to our price guard rail framework. Volatility also offers us the ability to exploit the judgmental biases and other behavioural weaknesses of market participants leading to unravelling of attractive investment opportunities from time to time.


We seek clients who have the temperament to endure market volatility and stay invested for the long term (5+ years) with an endeavour to earn superior returns.

Investing for the
Long Term

In our view, investing for the long-term is the only consistent way to generate a compounding marvel. The price of an equity investment can fluctuate drastically in the short-term but converges with its fair value over the long term. We invest with a ~5-year horizon and at times have stayed invested for even longer.

Our conviction to remain invested for the long term comes from the nuanced industry specific expertise that our investment team has built over the years. We go beyond desk research to conduct on the ground channel checks with various stakeholders of a target business. Meeting with company management, peer companies, distributors, industry experts and visiting factories and work sites are part of the research process that helps us build conviction. We stay away from companies with poor governance or those indulging in ‘creative’ accounting.

Nuanced Industry
Specific Expertise

Capturing the
Discovery Premium

One determinant of our superior investment performance is our focus on catching an investment thesis early in its life-cycle. Investing early helps us buy at reasonable valuations which also enhances the potential return. We generate alpha by capitalizing on non-linear triggers of business and earnings growth.

We buy solid businesses that exhibit multi-year structural growth trends (ideally aided by macro or policy tailwinds) run by clean, competent managements and available at a reasonable valuation.

Growth at
Reasonable Valuations

Price Guard
Rail Framework

We strongly believe the most effective risk mitigant in small/mid cap investing is to not overpay to buy even a good business. We employ our price guard rail framework to assign entry and exit prices for every investment we approve. We do not run model portfolios as that can compel a fund manager to buy stocks at unfavourable valuations.

We build client portfolios with ~15 stocks – an optimal number - bringing the benefits of diversification while minimising concentration risk. We limit our exposure at a company and sector level and prudently book profits from time to time as our investment theses play out.

Portfolio
Construction

Key Investment
Risks

The biggest risk in equity investing is the permanent loss of capital. It is our endeavour at all times to keep one eye on growth and the other on capital preservation. Our disciplined private equity approach has helped us immensely in buying quality businesses and avoiding pitfalls. One risk we cannot avoid is market volatility and resultant temporary drawdowns. However, we have been able to mitigate the risk of ‘significant drawdowns’ in our client portfolios by adhering to our price guard rail framework. Volatility also offers us the ability to exploit the judgmental biases and other behavioural weaknesses of market participants leading to unravelling of attractive investment opportunities from time to time.



We seek clients who have the temperament to endure market volatility and stay invested for the long term (5+ years) with an endeavour to earn superior returns.

Our Strategies

Aurum small cap opportunities

Flagship small cap strategy aims to generate alpha over medium to long term.

Our flagship small cap strategy aims to participate in opportunities arising from two key themes:

  1. Alpha Drivers:

    Non-linear triggers for earnings momentum. We seek solid businesses that can be aided by macro or policy tailwinds, transformational management changes, evolving consumer/technology dynamics or other disruptive business trends.
  2. Steady Performers:

    Sustainable growth led by business fundamentals. We seek firms with a large scope for profitable growth, healthy cashflows and return ratios, quality and consistency in earnings and a great management track record.

We discover credible ideas and invest in them at reasonable valuations as determined by our price guard rail framework. We believe the most effective risk mitigant in small cap investing is to not overpay!

Typically, our portfolio contains ~15 high conviction stocks with an investment horizon of ~5 years. We consciously avoid momentum stocks and have minimal portfolio churn. We seek clients who have the temperament to endure market volatility and stay invested for the long term with an endeavour to earn superior returns.

In order to align our long-term interest with that of our clients’, we back-end our performance fees, which is typically charged after 5 years, except in case of an early exit.

This strategy is benchmarked against the S&P BSE 500 index.

Aurum multiplier portfolio

Multicap strategy blends the stability of large caps with superior returns of mid and small caps.

Our multicap strategy offers a portfolio of 18-20 high conviction stocks across large, mid and small caps. Key aspects of our Private Equity Approach – focusing on the long term, avoiding needless churn and being mindful of valuations – work just as well while evaluating companies across all market capitalizations. We seek to combine the superior returns of small caps with the relative stability of large and mid-caps over the investment horizon.

  1. Large and Mid Cap (60-70% allocation):

    We focus on high quality growth companies with consistent profitability and return ratios, strong balance sheets and management with superior execution. We also seek firms that are out of favour due to industry specific constraints or a cyclical downturn and are trading at a discount to fair value, thus enhancing our potential return.
  2. Small Cap (30-40% allocation):

    We include select ideas from our small cap portfolio consisting of businesses aided by non-linear triggers for earnings momentum such as policy tailwinds, disruptive business trends, management changes or evolving technology/consumer trends.

This strategy is benchmarked against the S&P BSE 500 index.

Aurum SME Fund I

Focuses on growth oriented small businesses listed or bound for listing on the SME exchange.

Aurum SME Fund I is focused on discovering hidden SME gems with high growth prospects over a 5 to 7 year horizon. Our investment universe for this fund consists of firms bound for listing / listed on the SME platforms of BSE & NSE.

We follow a bottom-up stock selection approach to invest in companies with multi-bagger potential on the back of profitable growth, robust cashflows and healthy return ratios. Migration to the main board in due course also becomes a re-rating trigger for value creation.

We seek to build a portfolio of ~10 high conviction SME companies for this fund.

Team

Sandeep Daga -

Founder, MD & CIO

As a Founder, Sandeep provides strategic leadership to the group and actively manages the Asset Management business as its MD & CIO. He has over three decades of experience primarily in public and private equity investing in addition to spending early years of his career in corporate finance. Sandeep has been an astute investor known for spotting investment trends and high performing companies early on.

Prior to founding Nine Rivers Capital, Sandeep was a Partner at Frontline Ventures, an India-centric PE firm focussed on making mid-market minority growth investments. He began his investing career in the late nineties with ICICI Ventures as Head of B2B Investments. During his private equity career, Sandeep occupied board positions on several high growth companies.

Sandeep holds an MBA in Finance from NMIMS and is a Electronics Engineer from Amravati University.

Sandhya Kabra -

Executive Director & CFO

Sandhya is a result driven finance professional with over 23 years of industry experience in leading banking and financial services companies covering financial planning and control, MIS, forecasting, capital raising, performance management, ERP implementation, internal process streamlining and more.

Prior to Nine Rivers Capital, Sandhya was partner at Lakshya Consulting. She has also worked with Tata Capital, ICICI Bank and Aditya Birla Finance.

Sandhya is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Vivek Ganguly -

ED & Portfolio Manager

With over 25 years of experience in investment management, Vivek was Principal at Global Environment Fund and Fund Manager at Quantum Asset Management before joining Nine Rivers Capital.

With a blend of public and private equity investing experience, Vivek is adept at idea generation and has deep understanding of the financial and operational aspects of various businesses.

Vivek holds an MBA in Finance from Calcutta University and a BA from Nagpur University.

Pragati Khadse -

Vice President

Pragati has over 20 years of public market experience in equity research across multiple sectors in India and Asia. She complements the company’s research capabilities in evaluating investment opportunities in public markets.

Starting her career at SBI Mutual Fund covering the auto sector, Pragati went on to become Lead Analyst at IIFL, where she tracked the consumer, retail, and hospitality sectors. She has also worked at Citi, where she covered the consumer and media sectors. Prior to that, at JP Morgan Chase, she was part of the Asian technology hardware team.

Pragati holds an MBA in Finance from IIM, Calcutta, and is an engineering graduate from Amravati University.

Kunal Jadhwani -

Vice President

Kunal brings over 14 years of equity research experience across multiple sectors as an Analyst and Fund Manager at Motilal Oswal AMC and ENAM Family Office. He also had a brief stint as entrepreneur and seeded a consumer brand.

Kunal is a Management Graduate from Mumbai University.

Kunal Sabnis -

Vice President

Kunal has over 15 years of experience in financial markets and has spent more than a decade in Equities in buy side roles. After a brief stint with ARCIL (an Asset Reconstruction Company) valuing non-performing loans, Kunal moved to a domestic brokerage house as an analyst tracking Banks and NBFCs. He spent 8 years with VEC Investments, an Alternative Investment Fund, tracking companies across multiple sectors with BFSI as a core specialisation.

Kunal holds CFA Charter from CFA Institute, USA and MBA in Finance from Mumbai University.

kavita

Kavita Singh -

Vice President – Sales

Kavita brings over 20 years of experience in financial services primarily in sales & distribution of financial products. Prior to Nine Rivers Capital, she worked as Head of Institutional Sales, Mumbai with DWS Investments (part of Deutsche Asset Management).

Previously she has also worked with BOI AXA Investment Managers and CapVeda Capital in senior sales roles. She began her career at Stratcap Securities, a boutique Corporate Advisory firm and worked out of their offices at NCR, Kolkata and Mumbai across various divisions.

Kavita is an MBA in Finance from University of Lucknow.

Ritish Rangwalla -

Senior Analyst

Ritish brings over 10 years of public market experience in equity research in India including covering utilities, metals and mining sectors at global institutions such as Morgan Stanley.

Ritish holds an MBA in Finance from Cornell University and Bachelors in Science in Textile Chemistry from North Carolina State University.

Ritish Rangwalla

Senior Analyst

rahil

Rahil Merchant -

Senior Analyst

Rahil brings over 7 years of buy-side experience in Indian capital markets. Commencing his career as an Associate in the Institutional advisory team at Mata Securities, Rahil served as RM to several large corporates & UHNIs. Prior to joining NRC, he spent 5+ years at Pathpioneer Advisors family office, tracking multiple sectors with a special focus on ‘scuttlebutt’ style of investing. A tech enthusiast, Rahil actively covers the IT/Internet sector (amongst others) and enjoys staying on top of all things tech-related.

Rahil graduated from H.R. College of Commerce & Economics and holds a Master’s in Commerce from University of Mumbai.

Mustafa

Mustafa Arif -

Analyst

Mustafa brings over 5 years of experience in macroeconomic research covering Australia and SE Asia and has recently switched over to Indian equities. Prior to joining NRC, he spent time at ANZ Bank and Tata Sons.

Mustafa holds a PGD in Economics from Meghnad Desai Academy and a Bachelors in Economics and Politics from Oberlin College.

Mustafa

Narayan Nimkar -

Head of Dealing and Operations

Narayan has over 32 years of experience in dealing in the Indian stock market including 17 years of experience in the buy side. Prior to NRC, Narayan has worked as an AVP (Fund Equity Dealer) in ICICI Prudential and PGIM India mutual funds and handled Mumbai operations at Cholamandalam Securities Limited.

Narayan has completed PGPMS from Welingkar’s Institute and B.A. From Wilson College, Mumbai University.

Roshni

Roshni Vaid -

Manager - Admin & HR

Roshni is a part of NRC team since its inception in late 2007.

She brings over 28 years of experience in Administration, HR and CRM.

Previously, she has spent the first five years of her career in Sales at Godrej Appliances and then transitioned to managing Admin and HR with Frontline Ventures, a PE firm.

Roshni is a Science graduate from Jai Hind College, Mumbai University.

DIRECT ONBOARDING ROUTE

All clients have an option to invest in the Nine Rivers Capital PMS directly, without the intermediation of persons engaged in distribution services.

Invest With Us

Media Centre

Our Strategies

Team

Sandeep

As a Founder, Sandeep provides strategic leadership to the group and actively manages the Asset Management business as its MD & CIO. He has over three decades of experience primarily in public and private equity investing in addition to spending early years of his career in corporate finance. Sandeep has been an astute investor known for spotting investment trends and high performing companies early on.

Prior to founding Nine Rivers Capital, Sandeep was a Partner at Frontline Ventures, an India-centric PE firm focussed on making mid-market minority growth investments. He began his investing career in the late nineties with ICICI Ventures as Head of B2B Investments. During his private equity career, Sandeep occupied board positions on several high growth companies.

Sandeep holds an MBA in Finance from NMIMS and is a Electronics Engineer from Amravati University.

Sandeep Daga

Founder, MD & CIO

Sandhya

Sandhya is a result driven finance professional with over 23 years of industry experience in leading banking and financial services companies covering financial planning and control, MIS, forecasting, capital raising, performance management, ERP implementation, internal process streamlining and more.

Prior to Nine Rivers Capital, Sandhya was partner at Lakshya Consulting. She has also worked with Tata Capital, ICICI Bank and Aditya Birla Finance.

Sandhya is a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Sandhya Kabra

Executive Director & CFO

Vivek

With over 25 years of experience in investment management, Vivek was Principal at Global Environment Fund and Fund Manager at Quantum Asset Management before joining Nine Rivers Capital.

With a blend of public and private equity investing experience, Vivek is adept at idea generation and has deep understanding of the financial and operational aspects of various businesses.

Vivek holds an MBA in Finance from Calcutta University and a BA from Nagpur University.

Vivek Ganguly

ED & Portfolio Manager

Pragati

Pragati has over 20 years of public market experience in equity research across multiple sectors in India and Asia. She complements the company’s research capabilities in evaluating investment opportunities in public markets.

Starting her career at SBI Mutual Fund covering the auto sector, Pragati went on to become Lead Analyst at IIFL, where she tracked the consumer, retail, and hospitality sectors. She has also worked at Citi, where she covered the consumer and media sectors. Prior to that, at JP Morgan Chase, she was part of the Asian technology hardware team.

Pragati holds an MBA in Finance from IIM, Calcutta, and is an engineering graduate from Amravati University.

Pragati Khadse

Vice President

kunal

Kunal brings over 14 years of equity research experience across multiple sectors as an Analyst and Fund Manager at Motilal Oswal AMC and ENAM Family Office. He also had a brief stint as entrepreneur and seeded a consumer brand.

Kunal is a Management Graduate from Mumbai University.

Kunal Jadhwani

Vice President

kunal

Kunal has over 15 years of experience in financial markets and has spent more than a decade in Equities in buy side roles. After a brief stint with ARCIL (an Asset Reconstruction Company) valuing non-performing loans, Kunal moved to a domestic brokerage house as an analyst tracking Banks and NBFCs. He spent 8 years with VEC Investments, an Alternative Investment Fund, tracking companies across multiple sectors with BFSI as a core specialisation.

Kunal holds CFA Charter from CFA Institute, USA and MBA in Finance from Mumbai University.

Kunal Sabnis CFA

Vice President

Rahil

Kavita brings over 20 years of experience in financial services primarily in sales & distribution of financial products. Prior to Nine Rivers Capital, she worked as Head of Institutional Sales, Mumbai with DWS Investments (part of Deutsche Asset Management).

Previously she has also worked with BOI AXA Investment Managers and CapVeda Capital in senior sales roles. She began her career at Stratcap Securities, a boutique Corporate Advisory firm and worked out of their offices at NCR, Kolkata and Mumbai across various divisions.

Kavita is an MBA in Finance from University of Lucknow.

Kavita Singh

Vice President – Sales

pragati

Ritish brings over 10 years of public market experience in equity research in India including covering utilities, metals and mining sectors at global institutions such as Morgan Stanley.

Ritish holds an MBA in Finance from Cornell University and Bachelors in Science in Textile Chemistry from North Carolina State University.

Ritish Rangwalla

Senior Analyst

Rahil

Rahil brings over 7 years of buy-side experience in Indian capital markets. Commencing his career as an Associate in the Institutional advisory team at Mata Securities, Rahil served as RM to several large corporates & UHNIs. Prior to joining NRC, he spent 5+ years at Pathpioneer Advisors family office, tracking multiple sectors with a special focus on ‘scuttlebutt’ style of investing. A tech enthusiast, Rahil actively covers the IT/Internet sector (amongst others) and enjoys staying on top of all things tech-related.

Rahil graduated from H.R. College of Commerce & Economics and holds a Master’s in Commerce from University of Mumbai.

Rahil Merchant

Senior Analyst

Mustafa

Mustafa brings over 5 years of experience in macroeconomic research covering Australia and SE Asia and has recently switched over to Indian equities. Prior to joining NRC, he spent time at ANZ Bank and Tata Sons.

Mustafa holds a PGD in Economics from Meghnad Desai Academy and a Bachelors in Economics and Politics from Oberlin College.

Mustafa Arif

Analyst

Mustafa

Narayan has over 32 years of experience in dealing in the Indian stock market including 17 years of experience in the buy side. Prior to NRC, Narayan has worked as an AVP (Fund Equity Dealer) in ICICI Prudential and PGIM India mutual funds and handled Mumbai operations at Cholamandalam Securities Limited.

Narayan has completed PGPMS from Welingkar’s Institute and B.A. From Wilson College, Mumbai University.

Narayan Nimkar

Head of Dealing and Operations

Mustafa

Roshni is a part of NRC team since its inception in late 2007.

She brings over 28 years of experience in Administration, HR and CRM.

Previously, she has spent the first five years of her career in Sales at Godrej Appliances and then transitioned to managing Admin and HR with Frontline Ventures, a PE firm.

Roshni is a Science graduate from Jai Hind College, Mumbai University.

Roshni Vaid

Manager - Admin & HR

DIRECT ONBOARDING ROUTE

All clients have an option to invest in the Nine Rivers Capital PMS directly, without the intermediation of persons engaged in distribution services.

Invest With Us

Media Centre

Disclosure and Regulatory Details

Disclosure and Regulatory Details

Disclosure Documents

Investor Complaints

Corporate Social Responsibility

Disclosure Documents

Investor Complaints

Corporate Social Responsibility