Sev Vettivetpillai leaves CEO role at Liechtenstein’s social impact fund
London/Dubai. February 2019. Sev Vettivetpillai was one of the senior executives to leave Liechtenstein’s LGT Impact Ventures, as part of a shake-up of the financial firm’s structure, Reuters reported. In April 2018, he was appointed CEO of the Impact team at LGT, which is owned by the country’s ruling family.
LGT Impact Ventures' vision is embedded in LGT's 90-years-old business. LGT is the world's largest privately owned Private Banking and Asset Management group with USD $206 billion assets under management at June 30, 2018.
Vettivetpillai was on the Board of LGT Venture Philanthropy Foundation. Impact investing seeks to blend social and environmental benefits with profits. LGT applies “an entrepreneurial approach based on proven investment management processes and principles. In addition to philanthropic capital, we provide our portfolio organizations with access to management know-how, business skills, strategic advice and connect them with relevant contacts from our networks.”
Vettivetpillai has more than 25 years of experience within the growth markets in the private equity and venture capital arena, with extensive experience in the areas of setting up successfully new teams in new geographies and products. Before joining LGT, he was a Managing Partner of The Abraaj Group, Global Head of Impact Investing, a permanent member of the Investment Committee responsible for managing, reviewing and approving all Abraaj investments across the platform. Prior to that, Sev was the Founder and CEO of the Aureos Capital Group and built the largest focused private equity business investing in SMEs in the growth markets. He successfully led the management buy-out in 2009 and subsequently merged Aureos Capital with Abraaj Capital to form The Abraaj Group in 2012. Between 1996-2001, Sev was a Senior Investment Executive at CDC Group in London. He was awarded the CFA designation and completed a BEng (Hons) in Civil Engineering from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, UK.
LGT Impact has invested in six companies in three emerging markets, with its headquarters in London and Switzerland and teams in Brazil, Kenya and India, Reuters notes. Vettivetpillai previously worked for Abraaj after it acquired Aureos Capital, a private equity firm he helped lead. Abraaj was the largest buyout fund in the Middle East and North Africa until it collapsed last year due to the fallout from a row with investors, including the Gates Foundation, over the use of their money in a $1 billion healthcare fund, Reuters reported.
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