Kriss Pachauri joins Citi from Houlihan Lokey where he worked as a Director covering M&A execution and origination across sectors, specifically working with sponsors. Previous roles include working at BBRC Private Equity, Fort Street Advisors and Goldman Sachs.
Pachauri has led a number of noteworthy advisory assignments for Australian financial sponsors, such as the sale of Quadrant Private Equity’s fresh pet food business, Prime100 to Colgate-Palmolive, and the sale of Totara Learning Solutions, a global LMS provider, from Australian PE firm Five V Capital to European tech investor Tenzing Capital.
Pachauri is an experienced banker with strong client relationships and a strong track record in private equity. He will report to John Mclean, Head of Equity Capital Markets and Global Asset Managers for Australia and New Zealand and will be based in the Sydney office.
Financial sponsors are driving a significant portion of overall banking wallet, and there is an increased global focus on this important asset class. The appointment reinforces Citi’s commitment to growing its leveraged finance franchise, leveraging balance sheet capacity and structuring expertise to support sponsor-led transactions. The current pipeline across Asia-Pacific is strong, and with this new hire Australia is well placed to capitalize on the opportunity.
The appointment follows a successful 2025 for Citi’s team in Australia, with key deal mandates including acting as financial adviser to Pacific Equity Partners on the $1.4 billion acquisition of SG Fleet, financial advisor to KKR on the acquisition of ProTen and financial adviser to Carlye on its acquisition of a majority stake in Waste Services Group.
This announcement follows recent appointment news in Citi’s Australia franchise, where Jessica Rowe was appointed as Director of spread products and syndication, and Dane Harris was appointed Vice President in the Australian dollar debt syndication team. It builds upon recent leadership appointments within Capital Markets and Advisory, with Ben Connolly and Philippe Perzi taking on the roles of Co-Heads, Capital Markets and Advisory and John Mclean being appointed as Head of Equity Capital Markets and Global Asset Managers for Australia and New Zealand.
