York Street Partners wins Harvard Business School New Venture Competition for South, South East Asia

Friday, 11 April 2014 02:02 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

York Street Partners Ltd., a Sri Lanka based boutique investment banking and advisory firm, took the first place in the regional finals (South and South East Asia) of the 2014 Alumni New Venture Competition conducted by Harvard Business School. York Street Partners is the only team from Sri Lanka to win the regional title in the history of the competition. Ravi Gururaj, a member of the panel of judges, commented on the company: “Each member of the York Street Partners team had

given up outstanding Wall Street and international careers to return to Sri Lanka to assist in rebuilding their homeland by helping establish early foundations for an innovative and impactful investment banking industry in Sri Lanka.” “The three Harvard Business School alumnus of York Street Partners – Nayana Mawilmada, Hiran Embuldeniya and Jayamin Pelpola – accompanied by Sharini Kulasinghe, delivered an outstanding pitch which combined a robust albeit nascent business opportunity pitch with an authentic commitment and alignment to the Harvard Business School’s mission of ‘Making A Difference In The World. That combo is a winning formula for a business plan contest if ever I saw one,” he added. York Street Partners focuses on aiding the transformation Sri Lankan capital markets by mobilizing new sources of capital, opening innovative asset classes, and providing thought partnership to policy makers and business leaders. York Street Partners recently arranged the largest cross-border private equity investment to support the growth of the leading micro and SME focused licensed finance company, namely Commercial Credit and Finance. In order to help develop certain nascent asset classes, York Street Partners plans to launch its asset management platform including private equity, real estate and credit/fixed income funds. In this journey, York Street Partners has succeeded in attracting and unifying Sri Lankan talent with international capital market experience working in organisations such as Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, ADB and Deutsche Bank. The company is also supported by a preeminent advisory board including some of Sri Lanka’s most accomplished business leaders – Deshamanya Mahesh Amalean (Chairman and Founder MAS Group), Eric Rajendra (ex-McKinsey Partner, Senior IFC Advisor) and Mohan Chandramohan (Founder and ex-CEO of NYSE listed ARC).