Spark Private Wealth is already 300-member strong, with some of the most seasoned private bankers and an experienced products & ideation team dropping anchor with the firm. A true to label open-architecture platform enables the team to offer best of breed solutions through some of the most experienced investment managers and domain specialists in the industry. Through the multi-family office proposition, the team is able to offer comprehensive portfolio monitoring and investment management (across multiple wealth and asset managers/advisors), structuring, estate planning and tax services to ultra HNI families ensuring complete alignment of interest.

“Anticipating substantial expansion, Spark PWM has attracted top-tier talent from the industry, boasting our current headcount of over 130 relationship managers (RMs) from a total staff of 300. This growth trajectory is a leap from a 60-member team in April 2023, showcasing the company’s ambition. We specialise in HNI with investible wealth of $1-5 million, focussing on the multi-family office solution to helping clients effectively manage and transfer wealth across generations,” says Ganashyam, who expects the company to break even by the next quarter, starting July 2024.

“It will be a monthly break-even, on all cost,” says Vinay. “So, at that scale and size, it will be amongst the first. It is also the proof of execution of the proposition being able to monetise over relationships”.

Vinay’s career journey is a transition from her early days at Tata Steel as an engineer to rising through the ranks in the wealth management sector, working for HSBC as head, premier banking, as well as MD and co-head, Centrum Wealth. Ganashyam started his career in management consulting with A F Ferguson & Co. He had a stint at Anand Rathi when it was starting up and was also briefly with ABN Amro Private Banking. Then he joined HSBC and rose to become the head, wealth management for the bank for India. He was co-head, Centrum Wealth, before joining Spark.

Asset management

It has an alternative investment fund (AIF) Specs Fund I, which closed at Rs255.5 crore with a portfolio IRR of 17 per cent. The AIF Specs Fund 2 is about Rs550 crore and will close by May 2024 (this figure may change by the end of this month). It has also received SEBI approval for angel funding, as also mid-stage-to-late-stage funding (called as pre-IPO funds). 

“Backed by a robust investment policy framework and leveraging extensive research and execution capabilities, we position ourselves at the forefront of identifying future-winning ideas,” says Deepan Kapadia, CIO, Spark PWM. “As part of Spark Capital’s ecosystem, the company goes beyond traditional wealth management, incorporating investment banking and asset management expertise into its offerings.” 

“The family office arrangement that we now have with Spark was set up by our late father,” observes Nehal Vakil, promoter family of Asian Paints. “He sat with the team to form an investment policy statement for our family and had the family office team devise a well-defined framework for all operational processes and advisory services provided by them. We were made aware of what our expectations should be from the family office and the Spark team has risen to the occasion and fulfilled those roles remarkably. They are sensitive to the needs and mindsets of my siblings and I so that we are all able to actively participate and be heard. One of us has had the added benefit of mentorship by the senior members of the team and that has helped them manage their responsibilities in the various roles they play. The team’s technical knowledge, a tight moral compass and a genuine understanding of our family and its dynamics has helped us stay together in our endeavour for sensible financial planning and growth”.

“The family office team has always made itself available to us and was a significant help when our father passed away quite suddenly,” she adds. “The transition during that time was challenging to say the least and their support in advisory and executory processes along with their understanding of our emotional state, was a blessing”.

“My family and I have a significant wealth management relationship with Spark and the relationship has been growing over time. We have had the opportunity to interact with several senior members of the team including their leadership. We have been impressed with the quality of the team and the capabilities and experience that they bring to the table. Their proposition is indeed comprehensive and the range of services they offer caters to the needs and requirements of families like ours. We find that the team has a sharp understanding of markets and we as investors have benefited from the quality of their advice and support,” describes Jay Bharat Mehta from the original promoter family of J B Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals.

“The team has been completely understanding my needs and requirements as defined by my brief to them,” says Piyush Pandey, eminent advertising professional and chief advisor, India, Ogilvy. “In fact, one of the senior members of their core team, Vaishvik Toprani has been handling my portfolio for almost two decades.  I have no hesitation in sharing that he understands the nature of my profession, which is that of a creative person and not someone who has a financial understanding of investments.  Vaishvik has stayed one step ahead of my needs and has shared his recommendations with me along with a reason why.”

On the overseas plans, the management is looking to open an office in Dubai on receiving DIFC licence. “We also have an ambitious target to achieve Rs1,00,000 crore AUM mark in the next five years,” says the chairman, who feels the WMI in India is all set for a steep growth trajectory which will alter the local wealth management market.