By 1 p.m., investment bank Avendus’s office in Bandra, Mumbai, was supposed to break for a relaxing lunch. That never happened.

On most days, a junior analyst The Ken spoke to would shove his lunchbox onto a crowded table and immediately be dragged into an argument—over a new product line, a potential client, or a pitch someone thought was too risky. Junior analysts would argue with senior directors. No one pulled rank. 

“Half the time, food was forgotten. We’d fight over ideas,” said the junior analyst. “It was chaotic, but alive. The firm grew from those debates.”

That identity now faces its biggest test in 26 years.

Across the sea, in Singapore, an executive at a large Japanese bank describes a very different routine. Before every meeting, he spends hours walking desk to desk, quietly checking in with each participant and aligning on every question in advance. A quintessentially Japanese way of working.

“You have to make sure everyone agrees on what will be discussed in the meeting beforehand,” said the executive. “If I wanted to raise a question, I’d tell the presenter in advance so they weren’t caught off guard.”

By the time the meeting began, every comment and question was rehearsed. 

The contrast between the junior analyst’s noisy lunch table in Mumbai and the executive’s choreographed way of business in Singapore captures the two worlds Avendus straddles as it enters the “final stages” of a deal with Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group. With $1.5 trillion in global assets, Mizuho has been around in India for over two decades. 

During this time, Avendus has gone from a tech-focused boutique to one of India’s top homegrown investment banks. The firm has a 40% scribdmarket share in Indian digital, tech, and consumer M&A deals, a clear market leadership, and has advised 3Xscribd the number of private deals compared to the next seven competitors combined over the last six years.

But a decade after selling a majority stake to KKR, the private-equity giant’s clock is running out.