Houston-based industrial decarbonization investment specialist Ara Partners has added to its portfolio management team with the hiring of Ari David in Boston and Manasi Desai in the Houston office.
Both join as vice presidents and join the firm following Ara’s $1.1 billion close last year of its second decarbonization fund.
With $2.4 billion in discretionary assets, Ara Partners is focused on decarbonizing key industrial sectors such as manufacturing, chemicals and materials, energy efficiency and green fuels, as well as food and agricultural sectors. According to the company, the team seeks to build businesses that are focused on sustainability and ESG principles.
“We are thrilled to bring Manasi on board to Ara’s growing investment team,” said Troy Thacker, a managing partner at Ara, in a statement. “Manasi brings highly relevant experience executing and managing industrial investments, as well as history of working with several key members of Ara’s investment team.”
Desai joins from KKR, where she was a principal focused on the energy sector. Prior to KKR, she was with private equity firm Intervale Capital and the energy investment banking group at Raymond James.
“It’s a great pleasure to welcome Ari to Ara,” said Tuan Tran, a partner at Ara. “Ari brings a wealth of private equity experience, including a significant focus on food and agricultural processing and supply chain, an area which is a key target sector for Ara.”
David joins from AUA Private Equity, where he was a vice president responsible for origination, structuring, due diligence, execution and monitoring of investments in the consumer and food sectors. Before AUA, he was at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
