Nationality British Indian Children 2 | Spouse(s) Angeli Gadhia | |
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Born May 1970 (age 46) Kampala, Uganda Residence Northwood in Middlesex, United Kingdom Occupation Investment Banker, Businessman and Non-Executive Director of BGL Group. Alma maters Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, London Business School | ||
Jitesh Gadhia, Baron Gadhia (born 27 May 1970) is a British investment banker and businessman, and member of the House of Lords. He was made a Life Peer by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, on 31 August 2016, on the recommendation of Prime Minister David Cameron. He was introduced to the House of Lords on 12 September 2016, swearing his oath of allegiance using the Rigveda, the world's oldest religious text in continuous use. He made his Maiden Speech on 27 October 2016 during a debate on championing global free trade.
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Personal Life
Jitesh Gadhia is a British Citizen of Indian origin, born in Kampala, Uganda in 1970, and raised in the UK. His family came to Britain during the expulsion of 60,000 Asians from Uganda in 1972. Gadhia was educated at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge (MA Economics) and the London Business School where he was a Sloan Fellow. He lives in Northwood, Middlesex, with his wife Angeli and two children, Priyana and Dev.
Career
Gadhia is a senior investment banker, with 25 years extensive experience of advising on complex, often cross-border, mergers & acquisitions and capital raisings across a wide range of industry sectors. Gadhia has provided strategic, financial and corporate governance advice to a large number of international companies. During his professional career, Gadhia has worked with three major banks: Barings, ABN AMRO and Barclays before joining Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset management firm where he was a Senior Managing Director. In particular, Gadhia has played a pioneering role in connecting emerging market companies with developed markets, notably from the BRIC countries. He has been associated with some of the largest investments between UK and India such as Tata Steel's USD 13 billion acquisition of Corus and Intas Pharmaceuticals' acquisition of Actavis UK & Ireland for USD 775 million.
In March 2016, Gadhia was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of BGL Group which owns a UK price comparison website for financial products: comparethemarket.com, known for its humorous Meerkat adverts and is currently preparing for an IPO on the London Stock Exchange. External reports have suggested the company will be valued at over £2 billion and will become a FTSE 250 listed company. Between 1999-2009, Gadhia served as a Trustee of Guy's & St Thomas' Charity appointed by the Secretary of State of Health. From 2007-2013, Gadhia served as a Trustee of Nesta(formerly the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts) appointed by the Secretary of Culture, Media & Sport and subsequently the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills. Gadhia was also Chairman of Nesta’s Endowment Committee (assets of over £350 million) and a member of the Audit Committee.
In July 2014, Gadhia was appointed by HM Treasury to the Board of UK Financial Investments (UKFI) which holds the UK Government’s stakes in The Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and UK Asset Resolution, which represented assets at that time of over £100 billion. Also in 2014, Gadhia was selected to join a Panel of Experts, led by Lord Myners, to review the Privatisation of Royal Mail with a view to learning the lessons for future Government Asset Sales. In March 2016, Gadhia was appointed by HM Treasury to the Board of UK Government Investments Limited(UKGI), which brings together UKFI and all the other assets owned by the UK Government under one umbrella holding company becoming the Government’s centre of excellence in corporate finance and corporate governance.
UK - India Relations
Gadhia has provided significant input on strengthening UK-India relations and accompanied delegations to the subcontinent with Prime Minister Theresa May, former Prime Minister David Cameron, former Mayor of London, Boris Johnson and Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University. He is a Member of the UK-India CEO Forum which was established during Prime Narendra Modi's historic visit to UK in November 2015. He held discussions with Narendra Modi(the current Prime Minister of India) in 2013 about "Achieving India's Full Economic Potential", together with Jim O'Neill, former Chief Economist of Goldman Sachs. Gadhia was instrumental in establishing the Conservative Friends of India which seeks to strengthen the bilateral ties between Britain and India and the relationship between the Conservative Party (UK) and 1.5 million British Indians.
Awards
Gadhia has been recognised internationally for his work spanning the private and public sectors and was selected as a "Young Global Leader" by World Economic Forum in 2007, which convenes the annual gathering of major international businesses and world leaders in Davos.
Philanthropy
Gadhia is an active philanthropist both personally and through The Gadhia Foundation, supporting a wide range of charities in UK and overseas. He has also participated in major fundraising campaigns, including collaborating with comedian Griff Rhys Jones, to raise £15 million to refurbish the Hackney Empire Theatre and has been a Patron of the British Asian Trust established by HRH The Prince of Wales.
Political support
Gadhia has donated £205,000 to the Conservative Party, and another £18,000 to the Conservative Friends of India. He has also donated at £25,000 to the Liberal Democrats in Scotland in support of the Better Together Campaign during the Scottish Independence Referendum 2014.