Warburg Pincus names SAP executive Khan senior tech adviser

By Pamela Barbaglia

LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. investment firm Warburg Pincus has appointed an executive of Germany’s SAP as a senior adviser to its technology group as it turns to industry leaders to source new investments and boost the value of existing portfolio companies.

Irfan Khan, who is in charge of SAP’s data management and analytics portfolio as president of its HANA database and analytics division, will work closely with the private equity’s technology team to pursue innovation and revenue growth.

Khan started his career at U.S. enterprise software firm Sybase, which was acquired by SAP for $5.8 billion in 2010.

He then spent almost two decades in various leadership roles at SAP, including chief technology offer for the firm’s global customer operations (GCO) and president of its platform and technologies products globally.

Warburg Pincus’ managing director Flavio Porciani said the firm would benefit from Khan’s expertise in delivering “go-to market and growth strategies” to global tech businesses.

In February, Warburg Pincus clinched a 1.9 billion pound ($2.4 billion) deal for Informa’s pharma intelligence business and led a late-stage funding round for Swiss tech unicorn Scandit.

Last year, it won one of Europe’s largest private equity deals with the 5.1 billion euro ($5.4 billion) joint purchase with Apax of Dutch telecoms firm T-Mobile Netherlands.

Khan’s appointment comes as Warburg Pincus seeks to bolster its global technology group which consists of seasoned industry leaders who have lived through the dot-com bubble.

In September, the U.S. investment firm appointed another SAP executive, Brian Duffy, as a senior adviser for the same team.

($1 = 0.8095 pounds)

($1 = 0.9488 euros)

(Reporting By Pamela Barbaglia; editing by Richard Pullin)