Basiz Fund wants to help Middle East expand beyond a petro-dollar economy
Asset and investment management company Basiz Fund extends financial services to alternate investment funds—a nascent sector in the Middle East.
Since its inception in 2006, Basiz Fund—an asset and investment management company—has seen the Middle East as a massive business opportunity.
The Mumbai-based company acts as a middle/back office for alternative investment funds (AIF), including hedge funds, private equity/venture capital, mutual funds, family offices, insurance portfolios, and managed accounts.
From a petroleum-driven economy, the Middle East is going through substantial changes—looking at diversified, non-petroleum revenue sources, says Aditya V Seshadrinathan, Founder of Basiz Funds.
“As the region integrates itself further into the global economy, it will have to apply global standards to financial agreements, financial reporting, and human resource practices. And, this is where Basiz’s services come into play,” Aditya adds.
Basiz offers financial accounting and reporting, management consultancy, conducting due diligence, human resource management, and more to its clients.
For 25 years, Aditya has been in the fund administration and accounting industry. While working in the US, he realised that businesses required people who could do quick reporting, overnight processing, and other jobs without creating a hole in their pockets.
“I thought this could be outsourced to a low-cost destination like India. But once I landed here in India, I was surprised at how advanced the business process outsourcing industry in the country was,” he tells YourStory Gulf Edition.
Adding, “At a time when the Internet was slow and expensive, the talent pool working in this industry had gained the knowledge of Six Sigma, standard operating procedures, scripting for inbound and outbound calls, and more.”
Aditya decided to bring this talent pool to his outsourcing financial services business. Today, Basiz Fund’s team of 180 people is spread across India, Bahrain, Singapore, and the United States.
Diversify to tap the Middle Eastern market
In 2018, Vishwanath Krishnan—a veteran finance professional—joined Basiz Fund as its Director. Having worked with Tata Finance, Arab Experts Global, and Finquest, he helped Basiz expand further in the Middle East.
The same year, the team collaborated with Bahrain’s Vision Business Consultancy to build a joint venture called Vision Basiz Arabia.
Over the years, Basiz Funds has garnered clients across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, India, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. It does annual financial reporting for more than 7,000 funds a year.
At present, it is serving various funds in the AIF space, with the value of assets under administration exceeding $100 billion across different asset classes.
According to Vishwanath, the Middle Eastern alternate funds sector is nascent, as businesses in the region prefer direct investments.
According to Mordor Intelligence, the private equity market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 7% between 2019 and 2028, while the venture capital market in the region is estimated to grow at a CAGR of about 15%.
He believes that Basiz’s diversified portfolio of services can help bridge this gap in the market.
“We are not a company with just one product. We have fund administration businesses, patented products like Basiz Master Draft, talent acquisition HR services, valuation services for funds, and more, which can be utilised by anyone in any geography. At the same time, our core remains the same: financial services,” Vishwanath adds.
Basiz Fund competes with financial services entities, including the US-based State Street Corporation and Pune-based Apex Fund Services.
Future roadmap
Moving forward, Basiz Fund plans to focus on its legal tech and HR tech services in the Middle East. Besides, it wants to prioritise growing in the SAARC region over the US and Europe.
“When the local economy does well and gives a good yield, it is better to stay closer home. The US and Europe are mature economies. So, a million-dollar revenue will also be a small percentage of revenue. In the future, the SAARC region will be yielding the majority of our business,” Aditya says.
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Edited by Suman Singh
