Mr. Rikeen Dalal is a distinguished proprietary equity investor based out of Mumbai with over 35 years of industry experience across merchant banking, equity capital markets and chemical manufacturing. He hails from the astute business family of stockbrokers, M/s Harkisondass Lukhmidass.

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He began his professional career in 1985 with H.L Financial Consultants & Managing Services Pvt. Ltd. (FICOM), the leading private sector merchant banking firm. Under the guidance of his late father, Pradip Harkisandoss, he actively participated in the underwriting, marketing and distribution of IPO's, PSU bonds, fixed deposits, rights issues, debentures and also dealt in government securities. He has been the book runner for several Tata and Birla group companies, the Bajaj Group, Reliance, J.K Tyres and Essar Group. In the year 1987 he became the Managing Director of the merchant banking business of the FICOM group.

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During the same period he took active interest in the affairs of the chemical manufacturing company, Ficom Organics Limited (FOL), that was founded by his father. He stayed abreast of all the affairs of the manufacturing company, including strategic planning and execution, before joining the Board in June, 1988.

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Rikeen then became the Managing Director of FOL in October,1988 at the young age of 25, after the sad and sudden demise of his father. His attention at the time moved from finance to chemicals.

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​In the year 1991 he sold the FICOM retail distribution network and merchant banking business to Mr. Uday Kotak and started to scale FOL. He brought with him the rich experience he gained whilst heading the merchant banking business of the FICOM group. He has been responsible for successfully introducing and scaling several import substitution chemicals in India such as Malathion, Dodecyl Phenol, Nonyl Phenol and Chlorpyrifos. Under his leadership, FOL became the second largest global producer of Malathion and the largest domestic producer of alkyl chemicals.

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In 2006, FOL was taken over by Coromandel International Ltd and after 15 years, at the age of 43, Rikeen re-entered the finance world as a Principal Investment and Private Equity investor. His career in the investment realm can be categorized into few distinct phases.

 

Early on in his career as an investor he focused on investing in primary markets, a subject he was familiar with during his younger merchant banking days. Although post the 2008 Lehman crash, he began seeing deep value in quality mid-cap companies in the secondary market. Over the years his wide network, goodwill, and expertise in manufacturing and merchant banking, allowed him to establish contacts and take concentrated positions in selected companies at a premature stage of growth. Few such names at the time were Wabco TVS, Sundaram fasteners, Coromandel International and Bajaj Finance.

 

The next phase came in 2013-14 when the Modi government came to power and the markets witnessed a rally. Rikeen was able to take some leveraged bets in businesses where he saw strong tailwinds and signs of resilient growth - Symphony, Aurobindo Pharma, Motherson Sumi and Eicher Motors were few such bets.

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Recently in 2020, around two months into the unprecedented covid-19 crisis, Rikeen formed a strong view of a K-shaped economic recovery - suggesting that quality businesses with strong management, would show resilience if they survived. Few such names he recognised were APL Apollo Group, Bajaj Finserv and Deepak Fertilizers

 

Rikeen today, manages his own proprietary equity investments across public and private markets. His hobbies outside the finance realm are horse riding and yoga. In his younger days he is known to have won over 75 gymkhana horse races before the age of 15 and has also been the western India gymkhana champion for three consecutive years. His early exposure to competitive racing he says has ingrained in him the eagerness to excel in his professional career.

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