Former Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit has started a new finance company. His investment firm is being backed by Comcast Corp.
The Wall Street Journal reported that ex-Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit, 59, has created a new investment firm. A source revealed that his company aims to seek big stakes in more mature financial services companies.
Apparently, Pandit's latest venture may be a reflection of a recent shift in deal making. Venture capital investors have been lessening their involvement in funding financial and banking startups.
The ex-Citigroup CEO's new company is backed by Comcast's investment firm, Atairos Group. Atairos, which manages about $4 billion of Comcast's funds, is run by former Comcast chief financial officer Michael Angelakis.
Pandit's new company is named Orogen Group. It will not be taking stakes in startups but instead will focus on profitable, growing or mature financial-services companies.
Former Citigroup head of strategy Ruchi Madan and former head of corporate communications Shannon Bell are joining Pandit. Orogen Group is currently searching for an office space in Midtown Manhattan.
Pandit's new investment firm comes after he made a series of small investments in startups and deals in India. Currently, he is one of the most active former top bank executives who have invested or advised financial tech startups since the crisis.
He joins the ranks of Morgan Stanley's John Mack and Deutsche Bank AG's Anshu Jain. The former Citigroup CEO has been an early venture backer of a lot of U.S. fintech startups.
According to The Straits Times, Vikram Pandit served as Citigroup's chief executive officer from 2007 to 2012. After he left, he has since invested in non-bank financial startups like CommonBond Inc., which is a student loan venture, and home equity finance firm Point Digital Finance Inc.
Pandit's spokesperson, Shannon Bell, has not issued any comments on the new investment firm. The publication added that Atairos CEO Michael Angelakis has also declined to share his thoughts on the partnership.
