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CapAsia's founding chief executive officer Vijay Sethu has 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's High Court.
Bastin has denied the allegations in the suit.
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 was due to be held. "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 chief executive of the private equity firm in 2009, said in his defence 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 chief executive, remained at CapAsia as the head of one of its funds and later as a consultant before leaving in November.
CapAsia manages US$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 JP Morgan Chase bankers and Malaysia's CIMB Group Holdings. 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 last month that it would buy Citigroup's emerging-markets private-equity unit.
The combined company, dubbed TRG, will have more than US$7 billion in assets, including about US$6 billion in private equity, according to a joint statement.


CapAsia's ex-chief sues successor

Singapore's supreme court. CapAsia's founding chief executive officer filed a lawsuit against his successor for defamation in Singapore's high court. Photo: Reuters

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Vijay Sethu claims Johan Bastin, current CEO of Singapore-based private equity firm, defamed him by suggesting he was front-running a deal


CapAsia's founding chief executive officer Vijay Sethu has 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.


CapAsia's ex-chief sues successor

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Vijay Sethu claims Johan Bastin, current CEO of Singapore-based private equity firm, defamed him by suggesting he was front-running a deal

Vijay Sethu claims Johan Bastin, current CEO of Singapore-based private equity firm, defamed him by suggesting he was front-running a deal