CapAsia’s founding chief executive
officer Vijay Sethu sued Johan Bastin, his successor at the
Rohatyn Group-owned private equity firm in Singapore, claiming
Bastin impugned him by suggesting he was front-running a deal.
Sethu is seeking unspecified damages for defamation and a
restraining order against Bastin to stop him from making any
further disparaging comments, according to a lawsuit filed in
Singapore High Court. Bastin has denied the allegations.
Bastin told three people that Sethu personally bought debt
that he had recommended to a company where he was a board member
and in which a CapAsia fund had invested, according to the court
filing. Bastin as a result suggested Sethu traded with advance
knowledge about a deal, known as front-running, which is illegal
and unethical, Sethu alleged.
A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for today.
“Our client’s position is that the lawsuit is entirely
without merit,” Bastin’s lawyers Hri Kumar and Shivani Retnam
said in an e-mail.
The lawsuit was filed with the “ulterior motive” of
harassment, rather than to protect Sethu’s reputation, Bastin,
who replaced Sethu as CEO in 2009, said in his defense filing.
“My client is very confident in the Singapore legal system
and that the merits of his case will be proved at trial,”
Sethu’s lawyer Edmund Kronenburg said.
Sethu, after being replaced as CEO, remained at CapAsia as
the head of one of its funds and later as a consultant before
leaving in November.
$400 Million
CapAsia manages $400 million in assets across three funds,
according to its website. The firm is owned by New York-based
Rohatyn, an emerging markets asset manager founded by former
JPMorgan Chase Co. bankers, and Malaysia’s CIMB Group Holdings
Bhd. (CIMB) CapAsia is the brand name for Capital Advisors Partners
(Asia) and was originally a venture between CIMB and South
Africa’s Standard Bank Group.
Rohatyn said this month it will buy Citigroup Inc.’s
emerging-markets private-equity unit. The combined firm, dubbed
TRG, will have more than $7 billion in assets, including about
$6 billion in private equity, according to a joint statement.
The case is Vijay Vijendra Sethu v Johan Frans Jozef Maria
Bastin, S612/2013. Singapore High Court.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Andrea Tan in Singapore at
atan17@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Douglas Wong at
dwong19@bloomberg.net
CapAsia CEO Bastin Sued for Defamation in Singapore
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