Our People

Sharand Maharaj

co-Managing Partner (MML Keystone)

Activity:Investment Team| Keystone

Location:London

Sharand is Co-Managing Partner of MML Keystone, which he co-founded, and sits on the Investment Committee. Keystone I and accompanying co-investment and managed vehicles closed oversubscribed with €935m of commitments in December 2025, among the largest fundraises on record for a new European strategy according to Preqin data. He spent 13 years at Macquarie as a founding member and later Managing Director of its principal investing group, which invested over US$50bn during his tenure. Earlier in his career, he traded equities at Deutsche Bank and was fast-tracked at McKinsey to become its youngest Engagement Manager worldwide at the time. He was selected for Goldman Sachs' Global Leaders Program and was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford.

Connect with Sharand on LinkedIn

In conversation

What did you set out to build with MML Keystone?

We built MML Keystone to back essential, asset-backed businesses that keep everyday life running, but often sit in a blind spot: too operational for classic infrastructure and too asset-heavy for conventional private equity. We specialise where resilience is tangible and value creation is earned.

Keystone was a new strategy raised in a difficult market. What convinced investors?

The strategy sits between traditional allocator buckets, and capital lives in buckets. The institutions that took the time to understand what we were building often became its strongest advocates. Andrew and I have invested together since 2010, so LPs were underwriting an established partnership as well as a new strategy. And we were investing while we were fundraising: six investments signed before final close.

How has your background shaped the way you invest?

I started trading shares at 13 and learned early that conviction is cheap; risk discipline is not. Trading equities in Singapore and Hong Kong made the lesson permanent: markets do not forgive untested assumptions. Oxford taught me to separate what must be true from what might be true. But the real education was thirteen years of principal investing at Macquarie, backing businesses and living with decisions long after each deal was done. Prizes recognise potential; ownership tests judgement.

How do you make decisions, and what happens after you invest?

Before we commit, I insist on a proper red-team: someone has to argue the bear case fully, not politely. After we invest, we establish a clear operating cadence, a small set of leading indicators and unambiguous accountability for delivery. We back the highest-return opportunities and stop quickly when the data says no. Good governance is speed with control: making things better, in ways you can measure.

What keeps you grounded outside the deal room?

I train hard because it is honest. I read because it stretches the time horizon: cycles repeat; judgement does not. Most of all, I protect time with my two boys. It keeps ambition in proportion, and decisions clear.

A unique approach to unlocking opportunity and potential