Sanjay Kawatra

Sanjay Kawatra is the Group Chief Executive Officer of Daem Ventures, the investment and operating platform he is building alongside Khalid AlZubair. He brings nearly three decades of experience in investment, transactions, and building businesses across the region, with a consistent focus on identifying value ahead of the market and realising it through structure, transformation, and disciplined capital allocation.

At Daem Ventures, Sanjay combines an investor's discipline with an operator's experience — taking long-term positions in strong businesses and working with their management and boards to build sustained value. He sees technology as central to the next phase of financial services, and backs management teams with the ambition and capability to lead that change.

As Deputy Group CEO of Ominvest, he led more than USD 1 billion in new investments and an equivalent scale of divestments, reshaping the group's portfolio for long-term growth. Throughout, he paired transformation with governance — strengthening boards, leadership, and execution discipline alongside capital allocation.

Select Transactions

• Spearheaded the creation of Liva Group, now a leading regional insurer, by merging RSA Middle East and National Life Insurance in a USD 300 million transaction — consolidating two sub-scale businesses into a single platform with the scale to compete across the GCC.
• Built strategic positions of approximately USD 500 million in Bank Muscat and International General Insurance (Nasdaq-listed), accumulated ahead of significant re-rating and now among the group's most valuable holdings.
• Structured the acquisition of Alizz Islamic Bank by Oman Arab Bank and its reverse listing — a more efficient route to market than a conventional IPO — and led a profitable partial exit for Ominvest, a combined transaction of approximately USD 300 million.
• Released approximately USD 200 million of capital from treasury shares by converting them into perpetual sukuk alongside a partial disposal — turning a static balance-sheet holding into funding and returns for shareholders.

Career & Board Roles

Earlier in his career, Sanjay spent over two decades as a Partner at EY, advising major financial institutions across Oman and Qatar on assurance, M&A, governance, IPOs, and cross-border funding. He has served on the boards of leading regulated and listed institutions across banking, insurance, and technology — including Bank Muscat, Liva Group, Alizz Islamic Bank, National Finance, and Thawani — and has been a member of regulatory committees formed to strengthen Oman's financial services sector. He engages regularly with the international business and policy community, including at the World Economic Forum. He is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).